Wifredo Lam (1902-1982) Figure

signed and dated `Wifredo Lam 1949' (lower right); signed again (on the reverse) - oil on canvas 42 1/8 x 33 1/4 in. (107 x 84.5 cm.) - Painted in 1949 - Estimate: £300,000-400,000

Provenance: Private collection, Paris.
Acquired from the above by the present owner.

Literature: Universidad Central de las Villas (ed.), Islas, no. 1, Santa Clara, 1966 (illustrated p. 125).
M. Leiris, Lam, Milan, 1970, no. 91 (illustrated).
M.-P. Fouchet, Wifredo Lam, Barcelona and Paris, 1976, no. 96 (illustrated p. 91).
'Wifrido Lam', in XXe siècle, no. 52, Paris, July 1979 (illustrated p. 45).
M.-P. Fouchet, Wifredo Lam, Barcelona and Paris, 1989, no. 96 (illustrated p. 95).
L. Laurin-Lam, Wifredo Lam: Catalogue Raisonné of the Painted Work, vol. I, 1923-1960, Lausanne, 1996, no. 49.20 (illustrated p. 419 and fig. 37, p. 142).

Exihibited: Havanna, Museo de Bellas Artes, Lam, oleos y aguafuertes, January 1966 (illustrated on the cover).
Paris, Musée d'Art moderne de la Ville de Paris, Totems et Tabous, Lam, Matta, Penalba, April - June 1968, no. 19 (illustrated).
Charlottenlund, Ordrupgaard, Wifredo Lam, September - October 1978, no. 22 (illustrated p. 28); this exhibition later travelled to Høvikodden, Sonja Henie, Niels Onstad Foundation.

Christie's. The Art of the Surreal. 4 February 2008, 6:00 pm. 8 King Street, St James's, London