Lowe Art Museum Presents Largest Afro-Cuban Art Survey Ever Staged

At the University of Miami, the Lowe Art Museum is presenting an unprecedented exhibition of Afro-Cuban art, showcasing over 100 pieces from 58 artists across two exhibitions. The main exhibit, titled 'El Pasado Mío/My Own Past: Afrodescendant Contributions to Cuban Art,' covers a 200-year span (1822–2022) and features more than 80 works by 44 Afrodescendant artists. Guest curator Alejandro de la Fuente utilized Miami collections to enhance the representation of historical works predating 1959. Notable artists like Wifredo Lam and Manuel Mendive are displayed alongside emerging talents such as Pastor Argudín. Additionally, 11 women artists, previously overlooked in the Cuban art narrative, are showcased together for the first time. The secondary exhibition, 'Afrocubanismo: Highlights from the Ramón and Nercys Cernuda Collection,' includes 27 pieces by 14 artists, illustrating how non-Afro-Cuban artists depicted the culture in the 1930s and 1940s. Dr. Jill Deupi, the museum's Executive Director, remarked that the exhibition addresses significant gaps in Cuban art history. De la Fuente emphasized that these exhibitions offer 'a different genealogy for Cuban art,' highlighting marginalized Afrodescendant artists. These exhibitions will be available from May 1 to September 12, 2026, at the Lowe Art Museum, located at 1301 Stanford Drive, Coral Gables, FL.