The Jungle
Wifredo Lam. 1943 C.E. Cuban. Gouache on paper mounted on canvas
The work, "intended to communicate a psychic state," Lam said, depicts a group of figures with crescent-shaped faces that recall African or Pacific Islander masks, against a background of vertical, striated poles suggesting Cuban sugarcane fields. Together these elements obliquely address the history of slavery in colonial Cuba.
Form
The Jungle takes us right back into the thick of abstraction with its lush, but claustrophobic, sea of green, blue, purple, and orange
arms, legs, feet, masks, sugar cane, and fruit. The long legs in this artwork create strong, vertical lines that are echoed by the stripes
of royal blue color in the background. In the mass of color and legs, it’s difficult to see where one shape begins and another ends.
Without fully formed bodies, the legs instead turn into sugar cane stalks, which turn back into legs in an endless and uncanny repre- sentation of a jungle that has, according to the painter, not only sprouted appendages, but also come alive.
Function
Intended to communicate a “psychic state”. With this in mind, he created an opus, The Jungle that could describe the hybrid Afro-Cuban experience. With the dream-like quality of the painting and the nod to primitivism, Lam’s interpretation of Cuba was tinted by
nostalgia. Still, he wasn’t trying to escape reality with his abstract interpretation of Cuba. He strove to depict a country amidst turmoil—especially in the years leading up to Cuban Revolution.
Content
Lams ethnic and cultural heritage included the African Diaspora in Cuba and when he returned to the island in the 1940’s he became
reengaged with the concerns of its Afro-Cuban community. There are 4 female figures in a row across the canvas. Difficult to make
out, they seem interwoven among tall stalks of sugarcane, and their unnaturally long, straight limbs blend in with the similarly shaped
plants. Lam’s composite creatures inhabit a tropical jungle of sugarcane and tobacco plants, Two of them have a horse’s tail. The
figure at the right holds a scissor as if she and not the artist , is the one responsible for dismembering herself and her companions.
Context
This work addresses the history of slavery in Colonial Cuba. In 1940s Cuba, sugarcane was big business, requiring the toil of thousands of laborers similar to the cotton industry in the American South before the Civil War. The reality of laboring Cubans was in
sharp contrast to how foreigners perceived the island nation, namely as a playground. Lam’s painting remains an unusual Cuban
landscape compared to the tourism posters that depicted the country as a destination for Americans seeking beachside resorts. While
northern visitors enjoyed a permissive resort experience, U.S. corporations ran their businesses, including sugar production. Though
Cuba gained independence from Spain at the end of nineteenth century, the United States maintained the right to intervene in Cuba’s
affairs, which destabilized politics on the island for decades.
Innovation
Lam was inspired by Cuba’s mixture of Hispanic and African cultures. He was influenced by African sculpture, cubist works and
surrealist paintings. Lam was influenced by Picasso and many other avantgarde artists and critics that he was introduced to while
in Paris. The crescent shaped faces suggest African masks. Also inspired by Santeria, the Cuban religion that is a blend of African
ritual and Catholicism the Jungle depicts four hybrid figures with long legs, prominent buttocks, and heads that resemble African
masks. The figures are meant to suggest sugarcane, which are grown in fields, not jungles. During the inter-war period in Paris, Lam
befriended the Surrealists, whose influence is evident in The Jungle. Surrealists aimed to release the unconscious mind—suppressed,
they believed, by the rational—in order to achieve another reality. In art, the juxtaposition of irrational images reveal a “super-reality,”
or “sur-reality.” In Lam’s work, an other-worldly atmosphere emerges from the constant shifting taking place among the figures; they
are at once human, animal, organic, and mystical.
Artistic Decision
His mature work shows the influence of Cubism and Surrealism. Key elements within his artistic practice were: Lam’s consciousness
of Cuba’s socio-economic realities; his artistic formation in Europe under the influence of Surrealism; and his re-acquaintance with
Afro-Caribbean culture. This remarkable collision resulted in the artist’s most notable work, The Jungle.
Interpretation
Lam’s interest in the traditional African religions practiced in the Caribbean, Santeria in Cuba and Vodun in Haiti, for example, is
suggested in the rightmost figure, which appears to be a woman-horse hybrid, a form characteristic of spiritual entities. The artist has
depicted a primordial vision of mythic forces. Even the painting’s title adds to the visionary qualities of his subject. To call it the
Jungle suggests a search for some primitive culture. However the plants Lam has included in his painting are sugarcane and tobacco,
which are domesticated crops, not wild plants. Crops that were introduced by colonial powers, and used in a slave driven economy.
Details
Cuban by birth, Lam was the son of a Chinese immigrant father and a mother of African-Cuban descent. “I refused to paint cha-chacha. I wanted with all my heart to paint the drama of my country, but by thoroughly expressing the negro spirit. 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 to
set the imagination to work, even if it takes time.”
- Significant to modern art as well as Latin American art
- Influenced by Lam's many encounters & experiences (often related to art) in different cultures:
- "In the 1920s and 30s, Lam was in Madrid and Paris, but in 1941 as Europe was engulfed by war, he returned to his native country. Though he would leave Cuba again for Europe after the war, key elements within his artistic practice intersected during this period: Lam’s consciousness of Cuba’s socio-economic realities; his artistic formation in Europe under the influence of Surrealism; and his re-acquaintance with Afro-Caribbean culture. This remarkable collision resulted in the artist’s most notable work, The Jungle." - Khan Academy
- A game of perception
- seemingly-randomly constructed figures from a wide variety of shapes (rounded backs, thin limbs, enlarged/prominent hands and feet)
- Cresent-shaped faces evokes African masks
- a tight, directionless scene -- an unorthodox landscape
- "Intended to communicate a psychic state"
- Sugarcane is included in the flora of the scene, reminding a viewer of Cuba's hardworking past (which so deeply contrasted with the way foreigners saw the island [basically as a playground] -- it shows the unrepresented Cuban perspective)
- Integrates symbols from Santería, an Afro-Cuban religion with Surrealist characteristics
- Big Picture: A Surrealist painting full of Afro-Cuban symbols arranged in a narrative that seeks to explain and shed light on Cuba's complex history (especially regarding slavery on the island).
Cross-Cultural Comparisons: Art Inspired from Diverse Cultural Traditions:
- Petra
- Golden Haggadah
- Earth's Creation, Kngwarreye
