Forty-three Afro-Cuban artists, spanning nearly two centuries of work, fill the galleries of "El Pasado Mío" at the University of Miami's Lowe Art Museum in an exhibition that Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago called "world-class" after visiting Friday, July 18.

"El Pasado Mío/My Own Past: Afrodescendant Contributions to Cuban Art" and a companion exhibition, "Afrocubanismo: Highlights from the Ramón and Nercys Cernuda Collection," run through Saturday, Sept. 12, at the museum, 1301 Stanford Drive. Admission is free Wednesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Both exhibitions were guest curated by Alejandro de la Fuente, Ph.D., director of Harvard University's Afro-Latin American Research Institute. Together, they recover and reframe the contributions of Afro-Cuban artists working on the island and abroad from the early 19th century to the present.

Lowe Executive Director and Chief Curator Jill Deupi wrote in Coral Gables Magazine on Monday, July 21, that the exhibitions "prompt us to reconsider what we think we know — and to linger over questions that resist easy solutions."

Nearly 200 years of Afro-Cuban art on display

"El Pasado Mío" debuted at Harvard's Ethelbert Cooper Gallery of African & African American Art from September 2022 through June 2023. De la Fuente adapted the Lowe version to include works from Miami collections, a detail Lago highlighted on Instagram, noting the exhibition "is made even more special by the inclusion of important works from local Miami collections."

The companion exhibition, "Afrocubanismo," opened Thursday, May 1, and draws from the collection of Ramón and Nercys Cernuda. Ramón Cernuda, a Cuban art collector and gallerist, has operated Cernuda Arte at 3155 Ponce de León Blvd. in Coral Gables since October 2000. He and his wife, Nercys, have collected Cuban art together for more than 25 years.

Featured works include Wifredo Lam's "Mujer con Pelo Largo (Woman with Long Hair)," a 1938 mixed-media work on heavy paper mounted on canvas, and Roberto Diago's "Elegua Proyecto de Cabeza" and "Woman at Piano."

Harvard exhibition finds new life in Miami

The Lowe's presentation builds on the original Harvard exhibition by incorporating works from South Florida collections, creating a version tailored to Miami's Cuban and Caribbean communities. Lago said the addition of locally owned works makes the exhibition especially meaningful for the city.

The City of Coral Gables is among the funders of "Afrocubanismo," alongside the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs, Beaux Arts Miami, the State of Florida Division of Arts and Culture, and the National Endowment for the Arts, according to the Lowe's exhibition page. The Lowe also is one of the city's Core Cultural Grant recipients.

Deupi wrote that Cuban and Caribbean diasporic histories at the Lowe "are not remote subjects but, rather, part of the texture of everyday life." For a city with deep Cuban roots, the exhibitions offer visitors a chance to view that heritage through the work of artists whose African ancestry shaped their art.

Lam expressed that perspective in 1982:

"I've been considered a painter of the School of Paris, a surrealist painter, or whatever other movement, but never as a representative of the painting I truly do, in which I believe I largely reflect the poetry of the Africans who arrived in Cuba."

Event details

What: "El Pasado Mío/My Own Past: Afrodescendant Contributions to Cuban Art" and "Afrocubanismo: Highlights from the Ramón and Nercys Cernuda Collection"

Where: Lowe Art Museum, 1301 Stanford Drive, Coral Gables

When: Through Saturday, Sept. 12. Open Wednesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Cost: Free general admission

Information: lowe.miami.edu or 305-284-3535