Matta (1911-2002)

Galleria del Levante, Rome
The Collection of Luisa Laureati Briganti, Rome

Rome, Galleria dell'Oca, Matta: Opere dal 1939 al 1975, October-November 1976, no. 17, p. 35, illustrated
Milan, Palazzo Reale, Sala Cariatidi, Matta, March 9-May 20, 1990, no. 30, illustrated in color
Munich, Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung, Septmber 20-November 11, 1991; Vienna, Kunsthaus, November 29, 1991-February 9, 1992, Matta, no. 6, illustrated
Mons, Museé des Beaux Arts, Les Années 50 à Rome. Art Chronique Culture du Neorealism à la Dolce Vita, October 12, 2003-February 1, 2004, no. 125, illustrated in color 
Reggio Emilia, Chiesa di San Giorgio, Emilio Villa poeta e scrittore, February 24-May 4, 2008, p. 214, illustrated in color

Wieland Schmied, Matta, Munich, 1991, no. 6, illustrated in color

This painting has been recently restored and should be hung in its current state. The canvas has been lightly lined with a non-wax adhesive. There are no ill-effects to the paint layer as a result of the lining. The painting has probably never been cleaned or varnished, but neither cleaning nor varnishing would be appropriate. The extreme edges which are visible in the current frame are very slightly scuffed, but this is only to be expected. There are areas of very thin paint across the top of the picture in the center and towards the upper left corner. None of these areas include any of the graphic information in the composition, and it seems to be only the white background color that has received retouches. The paint layer here was originally very thin, and has developed slight thinness over time that has been retouched. The retouches are serviceable, although slightly discolored. The work can certainly be hung in its current state. (This condition report has been provided courtesy of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc.)
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.
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During the twelve years that separate the psychological morphologies (see lot 14) from Les Evanisseurs qui nui Eve soeur de la nuit, Eve ennui sa soeur, 1951, the planet was engulfed by war, atomic energy was unleashed, and the Holocaust’s mass murder revealed the human capacity for total evil. As a war time refugee in New York Matta made an indelible impact with his increasingly explosive paintings and he also attracted a following among younger American painters. In 1944, haunted by the revelations of the concentration camps, he shifted direction and began to fill his canvases with humanoid creatures in violent clashes in what he called “social morphologies.” In 1951 when he painted Les Evanisseurs qui nui Matta was living in Rome.  Affected by the postwar conditions in Italy, he described the paintings of that time as “social landscapes, maps of our society to show the network of relations that unite us.” However, he thwarts literal interpretations by using cross-cultural disguises-- the three aggressors at the upper left of Les Evanisseurs qui nui are derived from a Polynesian wood carving with a mask-like head and a body cavity lined with sharp prongs. Matta owned several Malangan figures.

These mechanomorphs advancing through vapor toward a bulbous shape suspended over a bubbling yellow sea are drawn in a precise, delicate line which Matta had no hesitation about using in combination with amorphous drifts of color and a barrage of  energizing staccato strokes of white paint. From this point forward, often working on outsized canvases, Matta used all available painterly means, often deployed with centrifugal force, in the service of his vision of “human energy as a system in expansion in a universe” a vision that grasped “the real as made up of oscillations, waves, and beams,” and understood “the world as a nexus of vibrations.”

Critic and art historian Martica Sawin has written frequently on Matta for museum catalogues and he is an important figure in her book, Surrealism in Exile and the Beginning of the New York School (MIT Press, 1995)