Cardenas, Agustin

Born in Cuba, he studied at Academia de Bellas Artes de San Alejandro in Havana from 1943 to 1949. His first individual show was held at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Havana in 1955. In that same year he traveled to Paris on a scholarship. The affinity that the Surrealists felt for his work led Andres Breton to “knight” him as a Surrealist and in 1956 he invited Cardenas to exhibit his works at a group exhibition at L’Etoile Scelle, a Surrealist art gallery. From 1968, he lived and worked regularly in Paris. He traveled often to Carrara, where he sculpted marble, and to Pietrasanta, where he cast his bronze sculptures. From 1994, Cardenas spent the last years of his life in Havana, where he died in 2001.

Throughout his lifetime, Cardenas gained international recognition and has been exhibited widely in Europe, the Americas, and Asia. From 1956 to 1997, Cardenas participated in about a hundred group exhibitions and thirty-four solo exhibitions. At the 1961 Biennale de Paris he was awarded the prize in sculpture. Among his many individual shows have been FIAC, Paris (1980,1984), Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas (1982), and International Gallery, Chicago (1990). His works appear in many museums and private collections, including FondNational d'Art Contemporain, Montreal, Museum of Modern Art, Tel Aviv, Hakone Museum, Japan, Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas, and Musee d'Art Moderne de la ville de Paris.

His universal legacy, continues to inspire contemporary artists, and he is celebrated for his contributions to sculpture and the Surrealist movement in addition to his exploration of his Afro-Cuban identity.