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Roberto Sebastian Matta Echaurren (1911-2002), usually known as Matta, was one of Chile's best-known painters. Born in Santiago on 11 November 1911, he was initially an interior decorator, but became disillusioned with this occupation and left for Europe in the mid 1930s. His travels led him to meet artists such as René Magritte, Salvador Dalí, André Breton, and Le Corbusier.
It was Breton who provided the major spur to the Chilean's direction in art, encouraging his work and introducing him to the leading members of the Paris Surrealist movement. Matta produced illustrations and articles in the Surrealist journal Minotaure. During this period he was introduced to the work of many prominent contemporary European artists, such as Pablo Picasso and Marcel Duchamp.
The first true flowering of Matta's own art came in 1938, when he moved from drawing to the oil painting for which he is best known. This period coincided with his emigration to the United States, where he lived until 1948. His early paintings, such as Invasion of the Night, give an indication of the work he would continue, with diffuse light patterns and bold lines on a featureless background. During the 1940s and 1950s, the disturbing state of world politics found reflection in Matta's work, with the canvases becoming busy with images of electrical machinery and distressed figures. The addition of clay to Matta's paintings in the early 1960s led an added dimension to the distortions.
In his art Matta creates new dimensions in a blend of organic and cosmic lifeforms. He was one of the first artists to take this abstract leap.
Matta's connections with Breton's Surrealist movement were severed when a private disagreement led to his expulsion from the group, but by this time his own name was becoming widely known. He divided his life between Europe and South America during the 1950s and 1960s, successfully combining the political and the semi-abstract in epic surreal canvases.
Media pirates have begun a circulation of his video "Système 88".
Matta died in Civitavecchia, Italy, on 23 November 2002.
Selected list of works
- ca. 1932 - 33 Sick Flesh
- 1934 The Clown
- 1935 Untitled (Payasa)
- 1936 Panama and Wet Sheets
- 1937 La Forêt, Snail’s Trace, Composición Azul, Scénario No. 1: Succion Panique du Soleil and Morphology
- 1938 The Red Sun, Space Travel (Star Travel), To Both of You, Crucifiction (Croix Fiction), several works titled Psychological Morphology and Morphology of Desire
- 1939 more works titled Psychological Morphology and Water
- 1940 Dark Light
- 1941 Invasion of the Night, Ecouter Vivre, Théorie de l’Arbre, Composition Abstraite, The Initiation (Origine d’un Extrême) and Foeu
- 1942 The Hanged Man, The End of Everything, The Disasters of Mysticism and The Apples we Know
- 1943 L’Oeyx, El Día es un Atentado and Redness of Lead
- 1944 Cover art for the final issue of the magazine VVV, To Escape the Absolute, Et At It, Le Glaive et la Parole and Poing d’Hurlement
- 1945 La Femme Affamée, Abstracto, The Heart Players and Rêve ou Morte
- 1946 Le Pélerin du Doute and A Grave Situation
- 1947 Accidentalité, Metamatician # 12 and Black Mirror
- 1948 Wound Interrogation and The Prophet
- 1949 La Revécue and Woman Looked At
- 1950 C’Ontra Vosotvos Asesinon de Palomas
- 1951 Ne Songe Plus à Fuir and Les Roses Sont Belles
- 1952 Pecador Justificado and Eclosion
- 1953 Morning on Earth, Hills a Poppin, The Murder of the Rosenbergs, L’Hosticier and L’Apetite de Primer
- 1954 Abrir los Brazos Como se Abren los Ojos, Bud Sucker, The Chess Player, L’Atout and Tados Juntos en la Tierra
- 1955 Le Long Pont, Spearcing of the Grain, L’Engin dans l’Éminence and Intervision
- 1956 Banale de Venise, Heart Malitte, Fleur de Midi and Le Pianiste
- 1957 Le Point d’Ombre, L’Impencible, The And of Think and Ciel Volante
- 1958 La Chasse Spirituelle (started in 1957), Être Cible Nous Monde, L’Etang de No, The Infancy of Concentration, Les Eviteurs and Le Courier
- 1959 Un Soleil à Qui Sait Reunir, Les Faiseurs du Neant, The Clan and L’Impensable (Grand Personage)
- 1960 Couple IV (started in 1959), Être Atout (five part suite), Vers l’Universe, Ciudad Cósmica and Design of Intuition
- 1961 Vivir Enfrentando las Flechas
- 1962 Les Moyens du Creafeur, Claustrophobic Vaincue and Mal de Terre
- 1963 Eve Vielle
- 1964 Éros Semens (triptych, started in 1962) and La Luz del Proscrito (started in 1963)
- 1965 La Térre Uni
- 1966 Le où A Marée Haute and La Promenade de Vénus
- 1967 Signe of the Times and Morire per Amore
- 1968 Malitte (modular furniture set designed between 1966 and 1968) and La Caza de Adolescentes
- 1969 Lieberos, Nude Hiding in the Forest and Verginosamente
- 1970 Elle Logela Folie, Je-ographie, El Hombre de la Lampara and MAgriTTA Chair
- 1971 Otto Por Tre and Paralelles de la Viel
- 1972 Coigitum and The Upheaval of One’s Ocean
- 1973 La Vida Allende la Muerte, Senile d’Incertitude, Migration des Révoltes and Hom’mer (Chaosmos) (suite of ten etchings with aquatint)
- 1974 Explosant Fixe, Je M’Espionne, Deep Mars, L’Aube Permanente and Cadran d’Incendies
- 1975 Mas Ceilin and Illumine le Temps
- 1976 Wake (started in 1974), Une d’Une and Les Voix des Temples
- 1977 Rooming Life, L’Ombre de l’Invisible and Ouvre l’Instant
- 1978 Carré-four and Dedalopolous
- 1979 Polimorfologia
- 1980 Il Proprio Corno Mio, Laocoontare (La Guerra Delle Idee) and Pyrocentre
- 1981 Las Scillabas de Scylla, El Espejo de Cronos and El Verbo América
- 1982 Geomagnética de Danza (started in 1981), Ils Sexplose, Passo Interno di Mercurio, Labirintad and The Sign
- 1983 Morphologie de la Gaîté, Logos Men and Artificial Lucidity
- 1984 Ecran de la Mémoire and Le Dauphin de la Memoire
- 1985 Simposio o Composio
- 1986 Mi-mosa, 24 Mai 1986, Une Pierre Qui Regagnera le Ciel and Oeramen, la Conscience est un Arbre Vetroresina
- 1987 D’Âme et d’Eve
- 1988 Être Cri
- 1989 Violetation and L’Envenement Non Identifié
- 1990 A l’Intérieur de la Rose, Omnipuissance du Rouge, Navigateur and Haiku
- 1991 Parmi les Désirs and Ma Dame
- 1992 Champ du Vide, Cosmo-now, Le Désnomeur Rénomme and Farfallacqua
- 1993 Leaving Your Grass, Vertige du Vertige, Torinox and Colomberos
- 1994 Vent d’Atomes
- 1995 Les Arpèges, L’Âme du Fond and Melodia-Melodio
- 1996 The Road to Heaven, Storming Water River and Redness of Blue
- 1997 Flowerita and Oak Flower
- 1998 Youniverso
- 1999 Blanche ou Fleur
- 2000 N’ou’s Autres
- 2002 Post History Chicken Flowers, La Dulce Acqua Vita and La Source de Calm
References
- Passeron, René (1984). The Concise Encyclopedia of Surrealism. Trans. J. Griffiths. Ware, UK: Omega Books. ISBN 0-907853-28-5.