Matta (1911-2002)

Galerie Furstenberg, Paris
Galerie Serguy, Paris
Galerie Mona Lisa, Paris
Sale: Christie's, New York, The Latin American Sale: Important Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture, November 24, 1998, lot 46, illustrated in color 

Chestnut Hill, Boston College, McMullen Museum of Art, Matta: Making the Invisible Visible, February–May, 2004, no. 28, p. 114, illustrated in color

This work is in good condition overall. The canvas is unlined and well-stretched, and the media layer appears stable. Fine lines of craquelure are present in the white section of the upper right hand quadrant. Under ultraviolet examination, inpainting becomes apparent along the extreme right edge of the canvas, extending to the upper right and bottom right edges; this is most likely due to previous frame abrasion. An isolated circular area of inpainting measuring two inches in length is present in the lower left quadrant. In the upper left quadrant, four small, isolated circular spots of inpainting also become apparent. This work is ready to hang.
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.

Throughout the canvases Matta painted over the fifty-plus years of his post-New York career, certain visual ideas appear repeatedly. He evokes an endless, shifting space that conveys a palpable level of movement throughout the field. He manipulates pigments so that, both in color and in the means of application, they conjure up vaporous, unearthly spaces, the metallic shine of a machine piece, or the excessive brilliance and tone sickened by technological disaster. He conveys themes of mythological significance, futuristic warfare, and tales of phantasmic creatures undersea, in the universe of in unknown worlds. Finally, although many of his paintings are incomprehensible in precise terms, the created effect imparts a blending of the conscious and unconscious, the literal and the imaginary, that rarely fails to unsettle the viewer.

 

Mary Schneider Enriquez, “Roberto Matta: International Provocateur”,  Matta: Making the Invisible Visible (exhibition catalogue), Chicago, 1994, pp.37-8