Roberto MattaLa Dulce Aqua Vita (large signed carborundum etching on hand made paper)2002
2002
About the Item
- Creator:Roberto Matta (1911-2002, Chilean)
- Creation Year:2002
- Dimensions:Height: 48 in (121.92 cm)Width: 41 in (104.14 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:Aventura, FL
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU725314265112
Roberto Matta
“The function of art,” the Surrealist Roberto Matta once stated, “is to unveil the enormous economic, cultural and emotional forces that materially interact in our lives and that constitute the real space in which we live.” In his paintings, Matta sought to expose those forces through the Surrealist practice of automatism, creating work in a free-associative state intended to conjure the unconscious.
After studying architecture in his native Chile, Matta, then 22, chose to pursue the field in Paris, where he mingled with stars of the avant-garde like Gertrude Stein, Salvador Dalí and Walter Gropius. In the late 1930s, he abandoned Paris, together with his job at Le Corbusier’s studio and (for a time) his career, for modern art’s new epicenter, New York City. There, he became a colleague of art legends like Marcel Duchamp and Arshile Gorky.
Although celebrated primarily for his work as a painter, Matta was an equally talented furniture designer. His furniture pieces, like his artworks, are the stuff of dreams. The back of his totem chair, for example, is composed of smiling, cartoonish creatures stacked on top of each other. In his MAgriTTA armchair, the top half of a plush green apple sticks out of large black bowler in homage to its namesake, the Belgian Surrealist René Magritte.
But perhaps the piece that most truly embodies his artistic philosophy is his 1966 Mallite modular system: a collection of spongy, undulating sofas and lounges that can be fitted together to form a puzzle-like room divider. The work, an original edition of which is in MoMA’s permanent collection, has in recent decades been a hard-to-find collectors’ item — until 2019, when Italian design brand Paradisoterrestre issued a reedition, available through Duplex.
Browse Roberto Matta's paintings and furniture designs on 1stDibs.
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: Aventura, FL
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 14 days of delivery.
More From This Seller
View AllMid-20th Century Contemporary Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Paper, Color Pencil
Mid-20th Century Contemporary Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Paper, Color Pencil
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Figurative Prints
Paper, Etching
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Figurative Prints
Paper, Etching
Late 20th Century Contemporary Abstract Prints
Etching, Paper
Late 20th Century Contemporary Figurative Prints
Etching, Paper
You May Also Like
2010s Expressionist Figurative Prints
Paper, Pastel, Ink, Mixed Media
1990s Pop Art Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Ink, Lithograph, Pencil
Mid-19th Century Figurative Prints
Gouache, Lithograph
1990s Pop Art Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Ink, Lithograph, Offset
1990s Minimalist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Offset, Lithograph, Ink
1990s Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Mixed Media, Etching, Monotype
Recently Viewed
View AllRead More
Roberto Matta’s Malitte System Is Modular Furniture by Way of Surrealism
Italian design brand Paradisoterrestre has reissued a malleable piece of furniture by the famed 20th-century painter.
Andy Warhol and Suzie Frankfurt’s ‘Wild Raspberries’ Cookbook Is an Artful, Fanciful Delight
This set of recipes and original prints might not make you a better chef. But it will make you smile.