Matta, Roberto (Spanish, 1911-2002) Lithograph. “Or Dur Or Aison.” Numbered on front 37/175. Certificate of Authenticity on back with information on lithograph. In good condition. Measures 19 ” x 26”. Frame measures 25 ” x 30 ”.

From Askart: Roberto Matta was born on November 11, 1911, and brought up in Santiago, Chile. He was educated in his native country as an architect and interior designer at the Sacr Coeur Jesuit College and at the Catholic University of Santiago from 1929 to 1931. In 1933 he became a Merchant Marine which enabled him to leave Santiago and travel to Europe. In the 1930s he went to Paris where he studied architecture under LeCorbusier. At the end of 1934 Matta visited Spain, where he met the poet and playwright Federico Garcia Lorca, who through a letter introduced young Roberto to Salvador Dali. Dali in turn encouraged Matta to show some of his drawings to Andre Breton. Matta's acquaintance with Dali and Breton strongly influenced his artistic formation and subsequently connected him to the Surrealist movement, which he officially joined in 1937. He was in London for a short period in 1936 and worked with Walter Gropius and Laszo Moholy-Nagy. Matta was exposed to Picasso's Guernica which greatly impressed and influenced him. At this time, he was introduced to the work of Marcel Duchamp, whom he met not long after. The summer of 1938 marks the evolution of Matta's work from drawing to painting. An active member of the Surrealist movement from 1938 until 1947, he lived in New York with Breton, Tanguy, Ernst, Masson, etc. during World War II and his influence there was strong. His most characteristic works border on abstraction and evoke fantastic subjective landscapes. In 1947 Matta was expelled from the surrealists. By the 1950s and 60s he established homes in Rome, Paris and London. He lived with his wife and son in Rome and painted only when he felt like it. The 1960s marked not only a change in his themes, but in his style. He found influence in contemporary culture while remaining close to his Surrealist roots. As Chilean painter and printmaker, Matta left Chile as a young man and did not like to be thought of as a "Latin American" artist. He was one of the few Surrealist artists to take on political, social and spiritual themes directly and without resorting to social realism.

Written and submitted by Jean Ershler Schatz, artist and researcher from Laguna Woods, California.

Sources: Time Magazine, May 4, 1953 The Oxford Dictionary of Art, Oxford University Press 1988, edited by Jan Chilvers, Harold Osborne and Dennis Farr