Agustín Cárdenas

b. Havana, Cuba, 10 April 1927 – d. Havana, Cuba, 9 February 2001

While the work of Cuban artist, Agustin Cárdenas, embodies his Latin-American and African origins, its strong symbolism and extreme liberty frees it from their respective references. Working with wood, marble, and bronze, Cárdenas developed poetic, curved, and sensual works in which organic generosity, elongated silhouettes, and abstract forms all mix together. The abstract nature of his volumes is almost always counterbalanced by a figurative representation, which is suggested by his chosen titles. Totems, shells, women, couples, horses, doors, stele: Cárdenas worked with an array of highly symbolic subjects providing him with the pretext to explore many facets of creation across various forms.

His works are included in numerous museum collections including those of the Musée d’Art Moderne in Paris, the Museo d’Arte moderna in Rome, the Museo d’Arte Moderno in Caracas, the Pompidou Centre in Paris, the Museo Nacional in Cuba, the Modern Art Museum in Tel Aviv, and the Hakone open-air Museum in Japan.