Roberto MATTA (1911-2002) - Lot 54

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Lot n° 54
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Estimation :
2000 - 3000 EUR
Roberto MATTA (1911-2002) - Lot 54
Roberto MATTA (1911-2002) Totem Woman Terracotta proof Monogram incised in the clay in the center of the breast hole. 78 x 10 x 19cm (Restorations, cracks and chips) Born in Chile in 1911, Roberto Matta's life and work are exceptionally rich, linked to his own creativity, his artistic and intellectual encounters, and his cosmopolitan wanderings. After South America, his career took him to Europe (Spain, Portugal, France), then to New York during the war, where he was a key figure in Surrealism (as part of Julien Lévy's team); Mexico, then Chile again, before finally settling in Italy on the island of Panarea, where he lived out his days. His mentors, friendships and artistic companionships were dazzlingly rich: Lorca introduced him to poetry, followed by Dalí, André Breton, Henri, Moore, Marcel Duchamp, Tanguy and, in the United States, Gorky, Man Ray... Matta and sculpture It was in Albisola (Liguria) in 1952 that he first became interested in ceramics. He would soon be using clay for the first time in his painting, and it would also dominate his plastic work. In the late '50s, he began working with metal and bronze in surrealist figures, no doubt inspired by the wood carvings of Picasso's Boisgeloup. He also worked in aluminum, glass and soon terracotta, which was to become the dominant material. Matta was a great collector of African and Oceanic primitive art, and in the 60s and 70s he produced a number of strange figures: idols, steles, totems, anthropomorphic amphorae, chairs, retorts... He was influenced by pre-Columbian sculpture and ceramics (Inca and Aztec), rediscovering his cultural roots. Our hieratic idol, summarily and sensually modeled, with accentuated sexual characteristics, suggests that Matta was also sensitive to the art of ancient Mediterranean civilizations (Egypt, Asia Minor, Italy) on his return to Europe.
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