African Fantasy - from the "Fantasies" series

 

Lamar G. Baker

  1908 - 1994 (biography)

1936  

lithograph 

11 9/16 x 8 3/4" image size 

pencil, lower right; initialed in the stone, lower left 

unnumbered, from an edition of around 15 

pencil titled, lower left; dated in the stone, lower left 

 

cream wove 

published 

artist 

23024 

SOLD

From the series "Fantasies", a collection of images that are commentary on sociopolitical subjects. Titles also included "School," "Commuter's Fantasy," and "Mars". An African idol or fetish and carved masks are chained to two looming symbols of white Western wealth: a tuxedo and a nightmarishly oversized satin high heel. Baker did not shrink from exploring difficult and often controversial ideas, using art as a platform to critique the hypocrisy of social norms and prejudices. While his work often falls into the Surrealist catgory it was often less veiled than many of his contemporaries.