Matta - Latin America New York Thursday, May 23, 2013 | Phillips
  • Provenance

    Christie's, New York, Latin American Art, November 1985, lot 93
    Private Collection

  • Exhibited

    Lund, Lunds Konstall, Erotic Art, May 3- July 31, 1968

  • Literature

    P. Kronhausen, Erotic Art, exh. cat., New York: Grove Press, 1968, p. 144 (detail illustrated)

  • Artist Biography

    Matta

    Chilean • 1911 - 2002

    After graduating from university in Santiago in 1935 with a degree in architecture, Roberto Matta traveled to Europe where he met André Breton, the founder of the Surrealist movement in Europe. In 1938, he began painting and moved to the United States for ten years. During this period he sought to evoke the human psyche in his work, inspired by Freudian psychoanalysis. Matta's works became increasingly dominated by a socio-political element, which broke from the conventions of Surrealism.

    Matta was also a seminal figure in Abstract Expressionism but broke away from this too to develop a highly personal artistic vision. His mature works blend abstraction with elements of figuration and fantastically-conceived, multi-dimensional space. He was heavily involved in the social movements of the 1960s and '70s and a strong supporter of Salvador Allende's socialist government.

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CHILE

69

Flying Figures

1944
colored crayon and graphite on paper
11 1/4 x 14 1/4 in. (28.6 x 36.2 cm.)
Inscribed "Patchin Place N.Y." lower right.

Estimate
$18,000 - 22,000 

Sold for $15,000

Contact Specialist
Henry Allsopp
Worldwide Director, Latin American Art
latinamerica@phillips.com
+ 1 212 940 1216

Latin America

New York 23 May 2013 4pm