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Lot Essay
‘I believe my paintings reflect our life. Our complexes and the idiosyncrasies of our people, with their rhythm and sensuality manifested in our music and dance; the sugarcane which alternately represents our misery as well as our wealth; our beliefs and superstitions… and our climate and geography with their beauty and violence; the cacophony which characterizes our common condition.’ -Wifredo Lam
‘…a true picture has the power to set the imagination to work, even if it takes time’ -Wifredo Lam
Fleeing the rapidly advancing hostilities and persecution of the Second World War, Wifredo Lam set sail from Marseille in the spring of 1941, seeking refuge in his native land of Cuba. This homecoming resulted in an unexpected creative breakthrough for the artist, as his experiences of the rich landscapes and cultural heritage of the island ushered in a wealth of mysterious new motifs and themes in his art. Stimulated by this environment, Lam developed a style that was a unique synthesis of Cubism, Surrealism, and Afro-Cuban sources, effortlessly blending elements of each to create a striking visual lexicon of mysterious figures and shadowy landscapes. Painted in 1944, Sans titre boldly depicts this evolution within the artist’s oeuvre, interpreting the spirit and magic of Cuba through one of Lam’s recurring obsessions during this period – the powerful, enigmatic, hybrid form of the femme cheval. At once constructed and organic, the figure at the heart of the composition is an interlocking assemblage of shapes and animalistic body parts, half-woman, half-horse, each element of her body connecting to one another in a surreal, otherworldly combination. Certain features are exaggerated to emphasise the bestial nature of her form, particularly in her elongated face, full lips and bulbous bearded chin, while the continuous sweeping curve of her head and neck grants her figure a distinctly equine quality. Using well-defined, assured lines to draft this figure, Lam clearly emphasises the fantastical nature of her hybridity, as her unflinching gaze draws the viewer into her world.
Lam’s idiosyncratic visual language had evolved from his experiments in collective production with the Surrealists during his time in Marseille, participating in automatic drawing sessions, contributing designs for the tarot pack Jeu de Marseille, and executing a number of India ink drawings in the Surrealist sketchbooks which became known as the Carnets de Marseille. In these works, Lam experimented with human, plant and animal hybrids, visual punning and doubling, stimulated by the games and techniques of his fellow Surrealists. The surrealistic nature of Lam’s imagery was perfectly compatible with the visual culture of Afro-Cuban religions of his homeland, which frequently included hybrid deities in their worship and ritual practices. The Lucumí and Santería faiths, which fused elements from Christianity with West African and Amerindian belief, were extremely popular in Cuba during this period, and the artist often observed the ritual religious ceremonies practiced by believers.
Indeed, the femme cheval paintings may allude to a central practice within the Santería or Lucumí rites, whereby devotees were possessed by spirits known as orishas, who would thereby share their powerful life force with humanity. Individuals seeking possession during sacred ceremonies were likened to ‘horses’ waiting to be ‘mounted’ by their appointed spirits. Possessing the body of the believer, the orisha rides the figure, transforming it into a creature that is part human, part horse and, in some cases, part vegetation. Considered against this backdrop, the images of the femme cheval seem to channel the inherent mystery of this union, and fuse it with the architectural, deconstructed bodies of the European avant-garde. In this way, Lam not only tests the permeability of the boundaries between the physical and metaphysical worlds, but also the visual language of the Surrealists and the mysterious indigenous culture of Cuba.
‘…a true picture has the power to set the imagination to work, even if it takes time’ -Wifredo Lam
Fleeing the rapidly advancing hostilities and persecution of the Second World War, Wifredo Lam set sail from Marseille in the spring of 1941, seeking refuge in his native land of Cuba. This homecoming resulted in an unexpected creative breakthrough for the artist, as his experiences of the rich landscapes and cultural heritage of the island ushered in a wealth of mysterious new motifs and themes in his art. Stimulated by this environment, Lam developed a style that was a unique synthesis of Cubism, Surrealism, and Afro-Cuban sources, effortlessly blending elements of each to create a striking visual lexicon of mysterious figures and shadowy landscapes. Painted in 1944, Sans titre boldly depicts this evolution within the artist’s oeuvre, interpreting the spirit and magic of Cuba through one of Lam’s recurring obsessions during this period – the powerful, enigmatic, hybrid form of the femme cheval. At once constructed and organic, the figure at the heart of the composition is an interlocking assemblage of shapes and animalistic body parts, half-woman, half-horse, each element of her body connecting to one another in a surreal, otherworldly combination. Certain features are exaggerated to emphasise the bestial nature of her form, particularly in her elongated face, full lips and bulbous bearded chin, while the continuous sweeping curve of her head and neck grants her figure a distinctly equine quality. Using well-defined, assured lines to draft this figure, Lam clearly emphasises the fantastical nature of her hybridity, as her unflinching gaze draws the viewer into her world.
Lam’s idiosyncratic visual language had evolved from his experiments in collective production with the Surrealists during his time in Marseille, participating in automatic drawing sessions, contributing designs for the tarot pack Jeu de Marseille, and executing a number of India ink drawings in the Surrealist sketchbooks which became known as the Carnets de Marseille. In these works, Lam experimented with human, plant and animal hybrids, visual punning and doubling, stimulated by the games and techniques of his fellow Surrealists. The surrealistic nature of Lam’s imagery was perfectly compatible with the visual culture of Afro-Cuban religions of his homeland, which frequently included hybrid deities in their worship and ritual practices. The Lucumí and Santería faiths, which fused elements from Christianity with West African and Amerindian belief, were extremely popular in Cuba during this period, and the artist often observed the ritual religious ceremonies practiced by believers.
Indeed, the femme cheval paintings may allude to a central practice within the Santería or Lucumí rites, whereby devotees were possessed by spirits known as orishas, who would thereby share their powerful life force with humanity. Individuals seeking possession during sacred ceremonies were likened to ‘horses’ waiting to be ‘mounted’ by their appointed spirits. Possessing the body of the believer, the orisha rides the figure, transforming it into a creature that is part human, part horse and, in some cases, part vegetation. Considered against this backdrop, the images of the femme cheval seem to channel the inherent mystery of this union, and fuse it with the architectural, deconstructed bodies of the European avant-garde. In this way, Lam not only tests the permeability of the boundaries between the physical and metaphysical worlds, but also the visual language of the Surrealists and the mysterious indigenous culture of Cuba.