Agustín Cárdenas

About

Agustín Cárdenas was a Cuban sculptor renowned for his biomorphic sculptures blending Surrealism, African diasporic traditions, and modernist abstraction. Born in Matanzas, Cuba, as a descendant of enslaved people from Senegal and the Congo, he studied at the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes 'San Alejandro' in Havana from 1943 to 1949 under Juan José Sicre, where he broke from classical traditions and joined the avant-garde group Los Once. His early works explored totem morphology influenced by West African Dogon traditions, and in 1955, he moved to Paris on a scholarship, where André Breton welcomed him into the Surrealist circle, praising his hand as 'nimble as a dragonfly.'

Biomorphic abstraction blending Surrealism with African influences and modernist purism