Baudelaire. Génie D'amour: Flamme 1941

Jacqueline Lamba made this abstract gouache on paper. It’s all curves and hard edges, floating and interlocking forms. Can you feel the push and pull? I imagine Lamba hovering over this work. How she would tilt the paper, moving it around, coaxing a feeling into being with each gesture. The flames at the top and bottom flicker, echoing the floating geometries in-between. I wonder, what might she have been thinking as she made this? There is a kinship with other Surrealists like Miro and Tanguy in the biomorphic shapes and open composition, but Lamba’s use of bold color and simplified forms feels so distinctive. The black feels like a formal device, anchoring the composition. The floating shapes and intense hues of red, yellow, and blue create a sense of vibrant energy. Artists are in constant conversation across time, each building on the ideas of those who came before. And with painting, there’s always room for ambiguity and multiple interpretations. That’s the beauty of it.