Sponsored  January 20, 2021

Gary Nader to auction Wifredo Lam Masterpiece in Sealed-Bid Offer

“Form is transitory, and what is important for me is the spiritual.”   Wifredo Lam


Dated from 1947, Le Guerrier I is a unique Wifredo Lam landmark oeuvre.
 
In this iconic oil on canvas, a testimony to Lam's technical mastery, the artist depicts a polymorphic fantastical figure remnant of the artist's Afro-Cuban cultural background. 
 
Wifredo Lam transcends the most diverse influences to create a unique poetic universe. Lam's works explored Cubism and Surrealism to develop his own style, a remarkable body of work focused on creating a new and distinctive poetic form of expression of concepts and imageries. 
 
Le Guerrier I is a metaphorical approach to Lam's ancestral inspirations and a rediscovering of his cultural heritage in a creative process well-defined as cultural decolonization. The combination of human-animal figures exemplifies a sense of interconnectedness that communicates the mythology of the Caribbean cultures. This work balances aesthetic values with cultural politics topics. Lam succeeds in marrying a
visual language drawn from European avant-garde art with his native country's evocative themes.
 

Le Guerrier I belongs to a body of work where the artist explored the relations between the metaphysical world and our own. The two-birds-headed armed warrior painted in flat, planar geometrical shapes against a rich dark background evokes the need for independence and autonomy, rejecting any form of predetermination to create a uniquely poetic and magic universe with undeniable power. Refuting color, Lam restricted his palette to shades of brown, black, and gray in conjunction with white. The suppression of color allowed him to display his extraordinary skills as a draftsman.    
 
Lam's oeuvre is a synthesis of visual languages that allows him to communicate his Afro-Cuban origins and religious beliefs and his own personal angst towards racial inequality and colonization power. 

About this issue Lam states: “I decided that my painting would never be the equivalent of that pseudo-Cuban music for nightclubs. I refused to paint cha-cha-cha. I wanted with all my heart to paint the drama of my country, but by thoroughly expressing the negro spirit, the beauty of the plastic art of the blacks. In this way, I could act as a Trojan horse that would spew forth hallucinating figures with the power to surprise, to disturb the dreams of the exploiters. I knew I was running the risk of not being understood either by the man in the street or by the others. But a true picture has the power for set the imagination to work, even if it takes time.”

After the great success of our first sealed bid-offer, Gary Nader is pleased to announce Sealed Bid Offer on A Masterpiece, a unique approach to art offering great masterpieces for the very knowledgeable collectors.

The private sale will be launched from 22-28 January, 2020, at www.garynader.com.

The Sealed Offer aims to create a new selling platform to showcase significant works of art to an exclusive audience, presenting through a selective curatorial process exceptional works from Modern and Contemporary Masters.

On this occasion, Nader will offer Le Guerrier I starting at $2,000,000, a significant, unique, fresh addition to the market, never offered at auction before, oil on canvas from Wifredo Lam's most relevant period.

The piece is currently on view at Gary Nader Monday to Saturday from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm. We will be welcoming offers above the minimum price of $2,000,000; all bids are considered irrevocable at the time of their submission.

In the event of equal price offerings, collectors will be notified for a second round during one extra day.

All interested collectors are required to submit a Registration Form and their offer to info@garynader.com. Only offerings registered and confirmed via phone will be approved.

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