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Dimensions: 49 by 42 5/8 in.
(124.5 by 108.3cm)
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Provenance: Inversiones Sawas CA, Caracas
Acquired from the above by the previous owner
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Exhibited: La Habana, Universidad de la Habana, Pabellón de Ciencias Sociales, Wifredo Lam, March 22-April 2, 1955
Caracas, Museo de Bellas Artes, Lam, May 8-22, 1955
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Literature: Max-Pol Fouchet, Wifredo Lam, 1st Edition, Barcelona/Paris, Poligrafa/Cercle d'Arte, 1976, no. 455, p. 258, illustrated
Max-Pol Fouchet, Wifredo Lam, 2nd Edition, Barcelona/Paris, Poligrafa/Cercle d'Arte, 1989, no. 487, p. 257, illustrated
Lou Laurin-Lam, Wifredo Lam, Catalogue Raisonné of the Painted Work, Volume I, 1923-1960, Lausanne, Éditions Acatos, no. 55.12, p. 456, illustrated, p. 512
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Notes:
After greeting me Picasso led me to a room where there were African sculptures.
I was especially attracted to one-a head of a horse... Picasso moved the
furniture and the sculpture... seemed to be alive. "What a beautiful
sculpture!" he said... and added: "You should be proud!"
"Why?" I asked. "Because this sculpture was made by an
African and you have African blood."
-Wifredo Lam, on his first meeting with Picasso
In an attempt to move beyond a mere appropriation of Picasso's animal forms, Lam fused diverse zoological elements within one human figure, including the horse's snout, pointed ears, mane, buttock, and tail. The resulting amalgams are articulated in a fully developed Cubist space of multiple viewpoints and overlapping forms.
Surrealism freed Lam from traditional representation and opened up the possibilities for subversion of the naturalistic that results in endless surprise and delight... This vision also grew out of an Afro-Cuban world view, which the artist inherited from his family. The horse motif should be understood in the context of Afro-Cuban culture, in which it resonates with meaning. Its presence alludes to an important religious phenomenon, the process of being possessed. In sacred ceremonies the practicant, who is referred to as the "horse" (caballo), goes into a trance, at which time he or she is overcome by both the personality and characteristics of the particular deity who is being honored during that ceremony. The spiritual possession that has occurred in such ceremonies is understood as an exchange of life force (ashe) between practicant and deity... By infusing a Surrealist aesthetic with references to Afro-Cubism, Lam established a special territory for himself in which he claims a personal and collective identity. 1
Julia Herzberg
1. Excerpt from Julia Herzberg, "Wifredo Lam: The Development of a Style and World View, The Havana Years, 1941-1952," in Wifredo Lam and his Contemporaries, 1938-1952, Maria Balderrama, ed. Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York, 1992, p. 33.
