Wilfredo Lam (1)

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Source: WTL© photograph of canvas in Wilfredo Lam exhibition at the Reina Sofía Museum, Madrid, Spain, 2016.
Images: Self-portrait by Wilfredo Lam.
Comments
: Lam went to Madrid, Spain, in 1923 to study under the right-wing curator of the famous Spanish art museum, the Museo del Prado, but he also made friends with young, experimental Spanish artists. He lived in Spain from 1923 to 1938. At the Prado, which is a museum that focuses on great European art works from the Middle Ages through the early 19th century. He works in the 20s were post-Impressionist with a certain Spanish approach to early modern art, but not yet Cubist. In other words, in Spain, Lam learned the traditional craft of artistic painting. In 1929, he married Eva Piriz; tragically, she and their son died oftuberculosis in 1931. During his fifteen years in Spain, he travelled throughout Spain, where he came in contact with Spanish peasants and their opppressed and hard life, and experience that influenced his leftist social and political views.
Images: Both works are by Wilfredo Lam. The image on the left, from 1926, is titled "Campesino [el abuelo Joaquín / Paysan de Castille]." It is done in pencil on paper. It is in a private collection. The image on the right, from 1927, is titled "Campesina castellana." It, too, is done in pencil on paper and is in a private collection.
Humanities Questions: (A) Describe this painting. (B) What do you think the (young) artist is attempting to (or would like to) portray about himself?

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