André Breton, Paris (a gift from the artist and sold by the estate: Calmels Cohen, Paris, April 15, 2003, lot 4332)
Acquired at the above sale

Paris, Fondation Dina Vierny - Musée Maillol, Le Feu sous les Cendres, de Picasso à Basquiat, 2005-06 (not included in the catalogue)
Munich, Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung, Das Ewige Auge - Von Rembrandt bis Picasso. Meisterwerke aus der Sammlung Jan Krugier und Marie-Anne Krugier-Poniatowski, 2007, no. 224, illustrated in color in the catalogue

Lou Laurin-Lam, Wilfredo Lam. Catalogue Raisonné of the Painted Work - Volume I: 1923 - 1960, Lausanne, 1996, no. 45.05, illustrated p. 369
Michael Peppiatt, ed., Jean-Michel Basquiat - Gaston Chaissac - Jean Dubuffet - Joaquin Torres-Garcia (exhibition catalogue), Galerie E. Navarra, Paris & Jan Krugier Gallery, New York & Geneva, illustrated in color p. 11

Executed on cream wove paper, not hinged. Edges are cut. 1/2 inch tear at center of bottom edge. Small additions of Japan paper at the extreme corners, likely to address artist pinholes. A few tiny spots of abrasion to the sheet at the extreme right edge. Three 1 cm repaired tears along the top edge, otherwise fine. This work is in generally very good condition.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Created in 1944, Sans titre was conceived at a pivotal moment in Wifredo Lam's career. After two decades spent in Europe, Lam had first attempted to return to his native Cuba three years previously when he embarked on the 'Capitaine Paul Lemerle' in March 1941 alongside numerous other artists and intellectuals, including André Breton, wishing to escape occupied France.

The return to Cuba was of fundamental importance to the painter, an occasion for Lam to revisit his childhood culture and former religious beliefs. Indeed, Lam was brought up in Sagua la Grande, surrounded by the rites and traditions of Santeria, a syncretic faith which combines the gods of the Yoruba religion and the saints of Catholicism. He grew up in a world populated by phantoms and spirits, where the real world and hallucinations were inextricably entwined: "When I was young, I was afraid of my own imagination. Not far from our house... the forest began. I had never seen phantoms, but I invented them. If I was walking alone at night, I was afraid of the moon, the eye of the shadow. "La Lámpara, a similar still life subject matter, also focuses on a ritualized altar (see fig. 1). Discussing this work Julia P. Herzberg relates, “the iconography contains camouflaged references to the orishas and the ceremonies held in their honor. The night light….That appears at the center of the composition is given principally as an offering to Oshún, Elegguá, and Changó…. These offerings are made for the purpose of asking the deities to open a path, to provide guidance, or to bring about a change” (in Wifredo Lam and His Contemporaries 1938-1952 (exhibition catalogue), The Studio Museum in Harlem, Newꦦ York, p. 46).

Lam created the present work at the very cusp of achieving official recognition as an artist of major importance; the Museum of Modern Art in New York would, just a year later, acquire the first masterpiece he had painted upon his return to Cuba, The Jungle, which was promptly displayed alongside Picasso's Demoiselles d'Avignon. Owing to the further support of the famous gallꦍery-owner Pierre Matisse, to whom he had been introduced by André Breton and who, in 1942 and 1944, hadꦇ already exhibited Lam's work in his gallery, Lam went on to benefit from a firmly established reputation in the New York art world.