Roberto Matta

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Roberto Matta, 1960

Roberto Antonio Sebastián Matta Echaurren (born November 11, 1911 in Santiago de Chile , † November 23, 2002 in Civitavecchia , Italy ) was a Chilean architect , sculptor and painter who belonged to the group of Surrealists from 1937 to 1947 and again from 1957 .

Life

After studying architecture in Chile, Matta went to Paris in 1933 , worked there in Le Corbusier's architectural office until 1934 and then sought to meet other artists on numerous trips. In Spain he met the poets Rafael Alberti and Federico García Lorca and met Salvador Dalí through the mediation of Garcia Lorca , who in turn recommended him to André Breton . In 1937 he declared him a surrealist without being asked. Matta first wrote articles on architecture for the surrealist revue Minotaure , then went on trips again. In London he made the acquaintance of the sculptor Henry Moore and the artist Roland Penrose , in Scandinavia with the architect Alvar Aalto . A trip to Russia followed .

Sculpture Chaosmos (in the Sculpture Collection Viersen )

In 1938 Matta began to paint himself and immediately took part in the major Exposition Internationale du Surréalisme in Paris. In 1939, considering the danger of war, he emigrated to New York City , where he enjoyed great success as a painter. Just six months after his arrival, he showed his work in 1940 in the gallery of the art dealer Julien Levy , who represented the interests of the Surrealists in New York. However, the Surrealists excluded Matta in 1947 (but took him back into their group in 1959). After a stay in Chile, the artist returned to Paris in 1948 and finally settled in Italy and lived in Tarquinia in Lazio since the 1960s . In Rome in the 1950s he worked at times in a studio with Fabius von Gugel (1910–2000). He worked repeatedly with students in Cuba in the 1960s and took part in the first cultural congress in Havana in 1968. He was also involved during the student unrest of May 1968 and took a vehement position on Pinochet's 1973 coup in Chile . Since 1981 he has been an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters . In 1992 Matta received the Prince of Asturias Prize in the field of art .

Roberto Antonio Sebastián Matta Echaurren died in 2002 a few days after reaching the age of 91 in Civitavecchia near Rome.

Matta is the father of the artists Gordon Matta-Clark and Ramuntcho Matta .

plant

Roberto Matta: Three Figures , 1958, MT Abraham Foundation .

Matta is best known for the development of what he called technique des morphologies psychologiques (technique of psychological morphologies), which is an implementation of the literary technique of the écriture automatique (automatic spelling) defended by the surrealists in the visual arts . It is characterized by the fact that paint is first spread over the canvas with a sponge and this application of paint determines the later brushwork (see also: automatism ).

Matta's works are often closely related to current events and reflect his political commitment. He dealt with, for example, the trial of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg ( Les roses sont belles ), the use of torture in the Algerian war ( La Question ) or the execution of the communist Julián Grimau in Spain ( Les puissances du désordre ).

Exhibitions (selection)

posthumously

Works (selection)

  • around 1942: Le pelerin du doute , colored and pencil drawing, Paris, private collection
  • 1952: Les roses sont belles
  • 1958: La Question
  • 1958: Trois Etres-Constellations face au feu , wall decoration, Paris, Palais de l'UNESCO
  • 1962: Les puissances du désordre
  • 2002: Chaosmos , bronze, Viersen sculpture collection .

literature

  • Jürgen Claus : Matta , in: Jürgen Claus, Theories of Contemporary Painting . Rowohlt, Reinbek 1963
  • Matta ; Catalog 4/1974 of the Kestnergesellschaft , Hanover, for the exhibition from July 12th to September 29th 1974
  • Matta ; Center Georges Pompidou. Musée national d'art moderne , 3 octobre - 16 decembre 1985. Paris, Éditions du Center Pompidou 1985 (= Les Classiques du XXe siècle; 6), ISBN 2-85850-303-6
  • Evelyn Pechinger-Theuerkauf: Roberto Matta's manifesto on architecture. Models of psycho-physical thinking in architectural theory in the first half of the 20th century . Weimar 2002. ISBN 3-89739-308-5
  • Werner Spies and Peter Kastner: Roberto Sebastian Antonio Matta Echaurren in the “ Sculpture Collection Viersen ” . Viersen 2002. ISBN 3-9805339-5-6
  • Ortrud Westheider and Michael Philipp (eds.): Matta Fiktionen , catalog book for the exhibitions in the Bucerius Kunst Forum in Hamburg from September 22, 2012 to January 6, 2012 and in the Frieder Burda Museum in Baden-Baden from January 18 to June 2 2013. Texts by Fabrice Flahutez, Alyce Mahon, Julia Drost, Werner Hofmann, Gavin Parkinson, Marga Paz, Evelyn Pechinger-Theuerkauf. Hirmer, Munich 2012, ISBN 978-3-7774-5431-3

Web links

Commons : Roberto Matta  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikiquote: Roberto Matta  - Quotes

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ According to other sources as early as 1935, cf. Pierre Cabanne: Dictionnaire international des Arts. Volume 2, Bordas, 1979 Paris, ISBN 2-04-010750-9 , p. 860
  2. ^ Honorary Members: Roberto Matta. American Academy of Arts and Letters, accessed March 15, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Matta, Roberto
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Matta Echaurren, Roberto Antonio Sebastián (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Chilean surrealism painter
DATE OF BIRTH November 11, 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH Santiago de Chile
DATE OF DEATH November 23, 2002
Place of death Civitavecchia , Italy