Wifredo Lam

Gastaldelli Arte Contemporaena, Milan
Collection particulière, Italie

Michel Leiris, Lam, Milan, 1970, no. 124
Max-Pol Fouchet, Wifredo Lam, Paris, 1976, no. 123, reproduit p. 112
Max-Pol Fouchet, Wifredo Lam, Paris, 1989, no. 123, reproduit p. 116
Lou Laurin-Lam et Eskil Lam, Wifredo Lam. Catalogue raisonné of the painted work, 1961-62, vol. II, no. 65.11, reproduit p. 286

The canvas is not lined. Close inspection only reveals some tiny pinholes in the upper right quadrant. Under UV light, one spot fluoresce towards the centre right edge with two hairline superficial scratches along the upper left edge and towards lower middle edge. This work is in very good condition.
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signed 'Wi Lam' (lower right) and 'Wifredo Lam' (on the reverse), oil on canvas. Painted circa 1965.

En 1962, Wifredo Lam installe son atelier à Albissola. Du haut de la colline, le golfe est noyé dans une brume de chaleur. Dans le jardin se dressent les grands totems africains et océaniens de la collection du peintre. Après Eskil, cette année-là, nait un second fils, Timour.

"Nous sommes dans l’atelier d’Albissola Mare. Sur les murs, de nombreuses peintures représentent des oiseaux singuliers en vol […]. Près du peintre, Lou Laurin, sa femme, l’écoute, attentive. C’est une artiste qui crée, avec des éléments matériels, des œuvres savoureuses, pleines d’humour. Parfois le visage de Wifredo devient grave, douloureux : il pense à la peine des hommes, à l’injustice, à l’arbitraire, qu’il n’accepta jamais. Soudain les jeunes enfants de Wifredo et Lou entrent dans la pièce. Alors il sourit, puis il rit, comme seul il sait rire, comme rit la jeunesse." (Max Pol  Fouchet).

C’est dans ce contexte, béni des dieux, que Lam peint C’est Dimanche.

Comme toujours chez Lam, l’œuvre se lit comme un poème. Verticale, elle conjugue des symboles à mi-chemin du connu et de l’inconnu. Multi-nodale d’un point de vue structurel, la composition est - comme le sont la plupart des compositions du peintre - anguleuse d’un point de vue graphique. Le chromatisme en revanche inaugure un changement qui prévaudra jusqu’à la fin de la carrière du peintre : un chromatisme volontairement réduit qui accentue tout à la fois la volubilité et le hiératisme des corps. Il s’en élève une intense et singulière rumeur.

In 1962, Wilfredo Lam set up his studio in Albissola. From the top of the hill, the gulf is enveloped in a fog of heat. In the garden stand two tall African and Oceanian totems from the painter’s collection. That year, after Esquil, a second son was born, Timour.

“We are in the Albissola Mare studio. On the wall hang many paintings of different flying birds [...]. Next to the painter, his wife listens, attentive. This is an artist who creates, with material elements, delicious works, full of humour. Sometimes Wilfredo’s face becomes serious, pained: he thinks of man’s pain, of injustice, of randomness, that he will never accept. Suddenly, Wilfredo and Lou’s young children come into the room. And so he smiles, then he laughs, as only he knows how to laugh, as the young laugh.” (Max-Pol Fouchet).

It is in this context, blessed by the gods, that Lam painted C’est Dimanche.

As always with Lam, the work can be read as a poem. It is vertical and conjugates symbols half way between the known and the unknown. Structured around several focus points, the composition is – as are most of the painter’s compositions – angular from a graphic point of view. The colours however are different and inaugurate a change which will prevail until the end of the painter’s career. The colours are voluntarily reduced in order to accentuate both the volubility and hieratic attitude of the figures. An intense and singular murmur seems to arise from them.