Every month hundreds of galleries add newly available works by thousands of artists to the Artnet gallery network – and every week we shine the spotlight on an artist or exhibition you should know about. See what we have in store and inquire for more with just a click.
About the artist: Born in 1910, French artist Jacqueline Lamba was a fierce, independent artist whose work fits into a range of 20th century fashions and movements. As a teenager, Lamba enrolled at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, but ultimately found the curriculum too academic. After being introduced to his book by a friend, Lamba meets the famous surrealist André Breton in 1934; a few months after they met, they got married. Involved alongside Breton in surrealist circles in Paris, the work she produced during this period of her career reflected her deep intellectual understanding of the principles of the movement. In the midst of World War II, under the patronage of Peggy Guggenheim, the couple and their young child made the necessary trip to America to escape the Nazi powers in France. Lamba went on to include works in several Guggenheim Art of This Century galleries in the 1940s. Breton and Lamba eventually separated, and in 1946 Lamba married the American sculptor David Harewhom she had met while working for the surrealist magazine VVV. This second marriage ended in 1954, after which Lamba returned to France. From the time after her second divorce, it was noted that “she had painted surrealism to please Breton and expressionist landscapes to please Hare, and now she was painting for herself.” Lamba was a driven and ambitious artist, and although she worked in increasing isolation, she continued to produce work until her death in 1992.
What do you want to know: On view until April 22, 2023, Weinstein Gallery in San Francisco presentsJacqueline Lamba: Painter», a retrospective exhibition of the wildly dynamic and intriguing artist. Kicking off the gallery’s 30th anniversary season, the exhibition includes over 40 works on paper and paintings dated between 1927 and 1988, highlighting the prodigious output of the ambitious artist. The exhibition at the Weinstein Gallery is the first gallery exhibition of Lamba’s work in the United States in seventy-four years. Seeking to rectify the academic and canonical neglect to which Lamba’s life and practice have often been subject, the exhibition presents a fascinating range of works across periods of the artist’s life; from surreal compositions influenced by Breton to expressionist landscapes shaped by her time with Hare, and, perhaps most captivatingly, paintings from her later career, when she painted exclusively for herself and in the manner of her own impulse. creative. The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated digital book exhibition catalog of the same title, which includes an essay by art historian Salomon Grimberg.
Why we love it: Throughout her life, Lamba struggled to be recognized as a painter in her own right, outside of the traditional labels of wife and mother or the shadow of her husband’s work. Although she ultimately did not receive the same degree of recognition as her friends and contemporaries like Claude Cahun or Frida Kahlo, the collection of works in the exhibition at the Weinstein Gallery illustrates how equally worthy of her. praise and recognition. His work notably underwent several evolutions throughout his life, but certain coherences underline the strength of his artistic vision and skill. For example, a strong sense of belonging is found in Lamba’s work; first works as Spiral and village (1946), coinciding with his immersion in Surrealism, evoke the milieu of an old fairy tale, creating a sense of narrative through the spiraling, juxtaposed angles of structures in a village. The good later Untitled (daytime city) (1970) again focuses on the place, but from a perspective close to Impressionism. The nuances of the cityscape, conveyed by subtle shifts in light and brushstrokes, are reminiscent of optical afterimages; the feeling of the city is less narrative and more like a memory.
See the interior of the exhibition and the works presented below.
Installation view of “Jacqueline Lamba: Painter” (2023). Courtesy of Weinstein Gallery, San Francisco.
Installation view of “Jacqueline Lamba: Painter” (2023). Courtesy of Weinstein Gallery, San Francisco.
Jacqueline Lamba, Spiral and village (1946). Courtesy of Weinstein Gallery, San Francisco.
Jacqueline Lamba, Simiane (1964). Courtesy of Weinstein Gallery, San Francisco.
Jacqueline Lamba, Untitled (daytime city) (1970). Courtesy of Weinstein Gallery, San Francisco.
“Jacqueline Lamba: Painteris on view at the Weinstein Gallery, San Francisco, through April 22, 2023.
Follow Artnet News on Facebook:
Want to stay one step ahead of the art world? Subscribe to our newsletter to receive breaking news, revealing interviews and incisive reviews that move the conversation forward.
