Untitled

© 2013 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

Untitled

On view

Modern and Contemporary Art
Theodora Walton William Walton III Pavilion

Untitled,

1965

Wifredo Lam, 1902–1982, born Sagua La Grande, Cuba; died Paris, France; active Madrid, Spain; Paris; and Havana, Cuba
2001-79
When Lam moved to Paris in 1938, he met the established artists Pablo Picasso, Joan Miró, and Fernand Léger as well as André Breton, who wrote a manifesto laying out the philosophies of Surrealism as preoccupied primarily with liberating the unconscious mind. Together, Lam and Breton traveled in the Caribbean and Latin America during and after World War II. Upon his return to Cuba in 1941, Lam created a series of disquieting, hallucinatory works, many of which reference both Afro-Caribbean religious traditions and the history of European colonialism in the region. Painted late in his career, this untitled canvas features two totemic figures suspended in an indeterminate space. With their curved horns, pointed beaks, blank eyes, and barbed wings, these hybrid forms inhabit a supernatural world of spirits and demons.
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Handbook Entry

Information

Title
Untitled
Dates

1965

Maker
Wifredo Lam
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
44 × 39 cm (17 5/16 × 15 3/8 in.) frame: 66 × 61 × 5.7 cm (26 × 24 × 2 1/4 in.)
Credit Line
Bequest of David L. Meginnity, Class of 1958
Object Number
2001-79
Place Made

Europe, France, Paris

Signatures
Signed and dated in black, lower left: Wifredo Lam | 1965
Inscription
in black ink, verso top center of stretcher: 277577 - A [or possibly B]
Culture
Cuban
Type
oil paintings, paintings
Materials
oil paint, canvas
Subject
animals, religious symbolism, birds, creatures

Iturralde Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; sold to David L. Meginnity, Class of 1958; by bequest in 2001 to the Princeton University Art Museum.

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