Wifredo Lam Woman with a Bird

Angela Liu:

This is Woman with a Bird, a painting by Wifredo Lam. Born in Cuba to a father from Guangdong and an Afro-Spanish mother, Lam moved to Europe when he was twenty-one to study art. There, he met Picasso, and they hit it off instantly. Picasso was impressed by Lam’s non-western background, a culture alien to him. At the time, Picasso was looking for new ways to break from artistic traditions, and Lam’s unique style captivated him. The two quickly formed a close bond and remained lifelong friends.

Among other things, Lam and Picasso had a shared interest in hybrid creatures. Picasso drew inspiration from Greek mythology and often referred to himself as a minotaur, a monster with a man’s body and a bull’s head. Lam explored hybrid figures from his cultural heritage, particularly the Afro-Caribbean religion Santería. The woman in this painting has a horse-like head. What you’re seeing is a critical moment in a Santería ritual when a divine spirit possesses a priest.

NARRATOR:

The title of this work is Woman with a Bird. It is an oil painting by Wifredo Lam made in 1949 and measures 127 centimetres in height and 111 centimetres in width.

The painting mostly features a palette of soft, greyish blues and translucent, pale yellows. A long-haired woman, depicted in profile, admires a white bird perched on her hand. Her elegant form is illustrated with thin, fluid lines, while her face resembles a featureless horse head. A white cloth is draped over her thighs, and she sits on a white chair adorned with curving patterns on its backrest.

The woman’s skin is greyish blue, similar to the background. Seen in profile, the graceful lines of her left breast, sloping shoulder, and waist accentuate her voluptuous form. Her facial features lack detail, with simple lines delineating her nose, lips, chin, and a long mane. The elongated nose contributes to her horse-like appearance. Framing her cheeks are striped patterns that look like flowing ribbons, which also adorn her head like a headdress. Some of these strips are long and pointed, while others are slender and curled. Her black hair cascades past her waist, falling tenderly over the rectangular backrest of the chair. She raises her left hand, with her elbow resting on her thigh, palm facing upward, fingers spread to support a small white bird. The bird has two tufts of twisted feathers on its head resembling horns and two round eyes on its face. Its white wings form sharp triangles beside its body, echoing the smooth flow of the woman’s hair.

The artist’s signature and the year of creation are in the lower right corner of the painting.