Félix Labisse
La Guivre Génégote
Gouache and ink on paper, signed: Labisse, La Guivre Guénégote.
lower right, titled on back
This painting presents an anthropomorphic hybrid, half-woman half-lizard, a recurring theme in Surrealist art. It explores the idea of transformation, the duality between human and animal, and the strange fascination with the fantastic. The lizard-woman seems to embody a tension between beauty and strangeness, and even a certain menace. The emphasis on the female body, particularly the breasts, evokes the eroticism that often pervades Labisse's work. The use of a geometric background (the diagonal green band) contrasts with the organic, detailed appearance of the lizard, suggesting a juxtaposition between nature and artifice.
The eyes of the human figure are particularly expressive and stare directly at the viewer, evoking both fascination and unease.Read more
The palette is deliberately restrained: the bright green of the background immediately catches the eye, while the black and white details of the lizard and the woman are captivating in their meticulousness. This sobriety highlights the complexity of the textures. The fine, repetitive motifs (the lizard's scales) show great attention to detail and a mastery of line. This shows the influence of naturalist drawing, but diverted here towards the fantastic.
This lizard woman could symbolise our fascination with mystery and the unknown. It also evokes the power and ambiguity of female figures in mythology and art (mermaids and sphinxes, for example). The work invites the viewer to plunge into a universe where the boundaries between the real and the imaginary are blurred, reminding us that the perception of the beautiful and the bizarre is subjective.
The word ‘guivre’ comes from Old French and refers to a fantastic creature, often a kind of dragon or winged snake. In medieval European mythology, the guivre is a reptilian being that symbolises both danger and fascination.
Guivres are sometimes described as feminised figures, combining animality with charm. In the context of this work, this resonates with the hybrid figure that is half-woman, half-lizard.
Labisse seems to be playing on this mythical creature to evoke themes of transformation, ambiguity and attraction and repulsion.
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