Matta (1911-2002)

Collection of the artist
Federica Matta (acquired 2002)

Paris, Centre Georges Pompidou, Musée National d'Art Moderne, Matta, October 3-December 16, 1985

Germana Ferrari Matta, Inter-Morphological Views, Matta: Notebook No. 1-1936-1944, London, 1987, p. 45, illustrated in color

The paper is hinged to mat across the top edge. Multiple pinholes are present on all four corners, in addition to the lower and top edges. There is a slight tear, one centimeter in length, to the center left edge. Very light brown and blue stains, not inherent to the work, are present in the lower left and right corners, in addition in the light blue portion of the sky in the upper right corner. Light glue residue is intermittently visible along all four edges. Light brown mat tape is present on the verso. Overall, the work is in excellent condition.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

In the mid-1930s, Matta, suffering from premarital jitters, fled from his family and fiancée and settled in Paris to work in the studio of Le Corbusier. An architect by training and not satisfied with life in the design studio, Matta sought out the painters and thinkers of the avant-garde who intrigued him.  He traveled extensively in Europe and met Spain's greatest poet and dramatist of the 20^th century, Federico García Lorca. The young poet and other artists, who included Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí, formed a group known as Generación del 27.  García Lorca facilitated the introductions between Matta and members of the Surrealist movement, whose artistry and political affiliations were questioned by the Spanish Falange and by Nationalist Party leadership.

The political and social climate came to blows in Spain. The resulting civil war lasted from 1936 to 1939 and claimed more than half a million lives.  In addition to 200,000 battlefield casualties, more than 125,000 people were killed by both Franco's Nationalist Army and its rival Republican Army forces.  These deaths can be described as politically-motivated assassinations. One of those assassinated by the fascist Falange was García Lorca, who was arrested on August 19, 1936 and summarily executed.  His murder was an emotional blow to Matta, who greatly admired the man who made it possible for him to make social and artistic inroads in France and Spain.

On April 26, 1937, the German Condor Legion bombed the Basque town of Guernica killing hundreds of unarmed civilians. This atrocity caused a great outcry which reverberated throughout the world.  In response to the bombing, Picasso produced his magnum opus, Guernica, as a symbol of his objection to the massacre committed there (Fig 1). Like Picasso and many other artists, Matta also responded by producing angst-ridden works denouncing the war's senseless violence.

Esa guerra desnuda, executed on the first anniversary of García Lorca's murder, depicts a surrealist landscape with mythological overtones.  Venus, the goddess of love and the symbol of Spain, is grotesquely contorted in the center of the composition. Her figure cowers in fear as she shields her head with her raised arms.  From her hands, eyes peer out in search of danger.  Venus' infidelity with Mars, the god of war, caused her to be trapped in a net by her husband, Vulcan, the blacksmith god of fire.

Matta sympathized with the tribulations suffered by the Spaniards.  With war came famine. The locust, a symbol of sudden invasion, disaster and economic downturn, is depicted devouring a flower in the upper center-right of the composition.  A genuflecting woman is visible to the left of the twisted Venus figure. A woman's body, with exposed breasts, is barely discernable to the right of the composition.  Her exploded body is turned inside out as a ruptured sun figure looms beside mangled flesh.  Another bursting bomb-like object in the upper left corner illuminates a pair of clenched hands whose arms are no longer attached to a torso.  The nightmare of war and all of its horrors have been poignantly captured by Matta's unique vision.

Fig 1  Pablo Picasso, Guernica, 1937, oil on canvas, 137 by 305 inches, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid.