RIP Roberto Matta
Dan Clore
themes. Frank Belknap Long's _Dreamer on the Nightside_
mentions the paintings _Rghuin monstrous triumphs_ and
_Icrogy fecundated_ as examples.--DC]
Visionary Painter Roberto Matta Dies
Chile's Surrealist
by Rachel S. Taylor
World Press Review associate editor
Jan. 14, 2003
When the Chilean surrealist painter Roberto Matta died on
Nov. 23, 2002, at the age of 91, the world lost one of the
20th century’s greatest artists. His work, shown at such
places as Paris’s Centre Pompidou and London’s Hayward
Gallery, pleased crowds and critics the world over. Viewing
his paintings was described as "like walking into a huge
aquarium full of glowing colors, peopled by strange beasts
from the depths that cried out for attention," according to
one reviewer. In the 1970s, Matta was voted one of the
world’s 10 greatest living painters.
Matta’s colors and beasts, which the artist dubbed his
"inscapes"--representations of the landscapes of his inner
world--were developed over the course of a long and varied
history. Born in Santiago to a wealthy French and Basque
family, Matta grew up heavily influenced by European
culture. His father, a landowner, was reportedly distant and
awkward towards him, and by the 1930s Matta decided to flee
his family and country for Paris. There, he spent two years
working in the renowned architect Le Corbusier’s studio
before deciding that architecture was not his medium.
He then set out to travel--and, in the process, managed to
get in with a circle of well-known artists. While visiting
his aunt in Madrid, he became friends with poets Pablo
Neruda and Garcia Lorca. In Lisbon, he met--and, despite the
fact that she was several years older than he--fell in love
with the Chilean Nobel prize-winning poet Gabriela Mistral.
He later proposed to her, though she declined.
In 1937, Lorca introduced Matta to painter Salvador Dali,
who in turn introduced him to fellow-surrealist André
Breton. Impressed by Matta's drawings, Breton, who had
founded Surrealism in 1924, invited the young artist to join
the burgeoning group. A year later, Matta’s professional
life took a new turn when he worked with the British artist
Gordon Onslow-Ford in Brittany. When Onslow-Ford locked him
in a cottage and demanded that he paint, Matta began to
produce his first canvases, beginning an exploration into
the visionary landscape of the subconscious. That same year,
his work was shown at the international surrealist
exposition at Paris’s Beaux-Arts gallery.
But with the Second World War looming, Matta felt himself--a
foreign left-wing alien living in Europe--to be too exposed.
And so, at 27, he left for the United States. There, he is
said to have influenced many important artists, including
his close friends Arshile Gorky and Jackson Pollock. Breton
considered Gorky the most important of the American recruits
to Surrealism, and critics have suggested that Gorky's work
provided a crucial bridge between European Surrealism and
American Abstract Expressionism.
Matta would not return to France until 1948. Upon his
return, he was surprised to discover that he had been
expelled from the Surrealist group. Feeling shunned, he
moved to Italy, whose Mediterranean culture would ultimately
have a large impact on his work. He also became interested
in--and influenced by--ancient Mexican art.
Though Matta spent much of his life living outside his
native Chile, the country continued to hold a significant
place in his heart--likewise, he continued to have a
significant influence on it. In the early 1970s he was a
major supporter of Chile’s Salvadore Allende, and took three
trips back to his country while Allende was in power. After
a coup by Augusto Pinochet brought down Allende’s regime,
Matta began providing significant contributions to
opposition groups.
In Chile, the painter’s death was marked by three days of
national mourning. Chilean President Ricardo Lagos said
Matta’s death "represents the passing of one of the last
major figures of painting in the 20th century."
--
Dan Clore
Now available: _The Unspeakable and Others_
All my fiction through 2001 and more. Intro by S.T. Joshi.
http://www.wildsidepress.com/index2.htm
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1587154838/thedanclorenecro
Lord Weÿrdgliffe and Necronomicon Page:
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/9879/
News for Anarchists & Activists:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smygo
Said Smygo, the iconoclast of Zothique: "Bear a hammer with
thee always, and break down any terminus on which is
written: 'So far shalt thou pass, but no further go.'"
--Clark Ashton Smith
J.B.L.
>themes. Frank Belknap Long's _Dreamer on the Nightside_
>mentions the paintings _Rghuin monstrous triumphs_ and
>_Icrogy fecundated_ as examples.--DC]
But I have never found any other reference to Icrogy Fecundated or Rghuin
Monstrous Triumphs, nor does Matta refer to Lovecraft as an influence; on the
other hand, Gerardo Chavez, who was influenced by Matta, went through a
"Lovecraftian period" in his paintings, specifying HPL's stories as the source
behind his grotesque monstrosities. Though neither Icrogy nor Rghuin have
cropped up in my research, certainly Chavez did invent alien names for the
entities in his paintings.
Thus I'm inclined to question Long's memory in this matter...
"The whole concept of 'experimental' art is probably a false one anyway."---
Virgil Thomson
james ambuehl
Have you guys got any titles of artbooks that might have either Chavez
or Matta works in them? Or maybe websites with same? I always wanted
to look up those paintings Long mentions, but never had much idea where
to try.
Thanks!
-- Jim
"Currently she was standing in the middle of what appeared to be his
TARDIS library. But it was a library of the evil and the arcane, where
the godless 'Necronomicon' was sandwiched between those terrible works
'Liber Inducens in Evangelium Aeternum' and 'The Black Scrolls of
Rassilon'. Where the infamous 'Book of Vile' and its Black Appendix sat
next to 'The Ambuehl Lores' and the wretched 'Insidium of Astrolabus'
.."
-- THE QUANTUM ARCHANGEL by Craig Hinton
J.B.L.
> Hi Dan, J. B.,
>
> Have you guys got any titles of artbooks that might have either Chavez
> or Matta works in them? Or maybe websites with same? I always wanted
> to look up those paintings Long mentions, but never had much idea where
> to try.
>
> Thanks!
>
> -- Jim
This has plenty of wonderful Matta pieces, but you won't find
monstrously triumphant Rghuin or unspeakable Icrogy among them...
http://www.matta-art.com/
You can go here and take a Virtual Tour of a Chavez museum exhibit,
but neither Icrogy or Rghuin will rise up to meet you:
http://www.molaa.com/exhibits/chavez/chavez.htm
Dan Clore
>
> >[A number of Matta's works feature Cthulhuvian imagery and
> >themes. Frank Belknap Long's _Dreamer on the Nightside_
> >mentions the paintings _Rghuin monstrous triumphs_ and
> >_Icrogy fecundated_ as examples.--DC]
>
> But I have never found any other reference to Icrogy Fecundated or Rghuin
> Monstrous Triumphs, nor does Matta refer to Lovecraft as an influence; on the
> other hand, Gerardo Chavez, who was influenced by Matta, went through a
> "Lovecraftian period" in his paintings, specifying HPL's stories as the source
> behind his grotesque monstrosities. Though neither Icrogy nor Rghuin have
> cropped up in my research, certainly Chavez did invent alien names for the
> entities in his paintings.
>
> Thus I'm inclined to question Long's memory in this matter...
Long gives a footnote reference to Sarane Alexandrian,
_Surrealistic Art_, p. 168 -- have you checked there?
I note that google searches for "rghuin" and "icrogy" give
no results.
J.B.L.
>_Surrealistic Art_, p. 168 -- have you checked there?
Don't know how I missed that, but I sure did. I'll see what I can find there,
if I can track down said book. As you said, neither Rghuin nor Icrogy have
infested Google, so no quote from Alexandrian's book involving them must have
made it to the search engine...
Doug Campbell
which some blamed him for the suicide of his friend Arshile Gorky. The
story of his readmission is a good one, and bears recounting in his
memory:
In 1959, Matta attended a Paris performance by the Surrealist Jean
Benoit 'The Execution of the Testament of the Marquis de Sade'. This
was a spectacular ritual at the climax of which Benoit appeared in a
grotesque costume, stripped down to body paint, then branded the name
'Sade' into his chest above the heart. In what was expected to be the
finale, he then challenged the audience with the still-smoking
branding iron: 'Who's next?' - Matta, on impulse and totally
unprepared, rushed forward, seized the iron and followed suit.
'A' for attitude. Two days later, he was back in the Paris Surrealist
group.
Source: Mark Polizzotti 'Revolution of the mind'
Doug
james ambuehl
Alexandrian's SURREALIST ART for a mere $2.65.
But, you know, guys, maybe we shouldn't delve too deeply? In that way
lies madness! And this is definitely starting to sound like the
beginning of a Mythos story! ;-)
By the way, J. B., digging through old emails I found our correspondence
on our once-planned collaboration: "The Spawn of Noth-Yidik." Did you
ever do anything with this idea yourself? I'm a little behind in my
reading of your own wonderful tales (I took a long Mythos sabbatical and
am just now getting back into it in any major way, happily unpacking
boxes and delving therein!), so am not sure.
Dan Clore
>
> And a search of Amazon reveals copies, both used and new, of Sarane
> Alexandrian's SURREALIST ART for a mere $2.65.
>
> But, you know, guys, maybe we shouldn't delve too deeply? In that way
> lies madness! And this is definitely starting to sound like the
> beginning of a Mythos story! ;-)
I see it at Powell's Books for a little more. Since I'm
playing on shopping there later tonight, I'll see if it's
actually on the shelf....and if so, if there's a
mysterious-looking stain on page 168....
--
Dan Clore
Now available: _The Unspeakable and Others_
All my fiction through 2001 and more. Intro by S.T. Joshi.
http://www.wildsidepress.com/index2.htm
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1587154838/thedanclorenecro
Lord We˙rdgliffe and Necronomicon Page:
J.B.L.
>on our once-planned collaboration: "The Spawn of Noth-Yidik." Did you
>ever do anything with this idea yourself?
No, the mysterious Noth-Yidik and its sinister spawn remain undefined. I've got
several Mythos tales in the blender, but since all the milkshake places closed,
I've got no place to serve 'em. So to speak.
Dan Clore
>
> >Long gives a footnote reference to Sarane Alexandrian,
> >_Surrealistic Art_, p. 168 -- have you checked there?
>
> Don't know how I missed that, but I sure did. I'll see what I can find there,
> if I can track down said book. As you said, neither Rghuin nor Icrogy have
> infested Google, so no quote from Alexandrian's book involving them must have
> made it to the search engine...
Okay, I picked up Alexandrian's book. He says: "There was a
period in which Matta launched into fantastic epic; in his
Paris exhibition in May 1949 he showed a mythology which
included _Ermala the Scepticide_, _Marzana the Llium of
envy_, _the Oigu of peace_, _Atyarth insolent_, _Icrogy
fecundated_, _Rghuin monstrous triumphs_, episodes of a
chronicle worthy of the novels of H.P. Lovecraft."
So contrary to Long, Alexandrian doesn't assert Lovecraft's
influence on Matta.
--
Dan Clore
Now available: _The Unspeakable and Others_
All my fiction through 2001 and more. Intro by S.T. Joshi.
http://www.wildsidepress.com/index2.htm
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1587154838/thedanclorenecro
Lord We˙rdgliffe and Necronomicon Page:
J.B.L.
>influence on Matta.
But at least Rghuin and Icrogy are a part of Matta's work; I had suspected that
Long had confused Matta and his disciple Chavez, and that --- if they existed
--- the paintings were Chavez's.
Dan Clore
>
> >So contrary to Long, Alexandrian doesn't assert Lovecraft's
> >influence on Matta.
>
> But at least Rghuin and Icrogy are a part of Matta's work; I had suspected that
> Long had confused Matta and his disciple Chavez, and that --- if they existed
> --- the paintings were Chavez's.
Also, nothing here rules out a possible influence from
Lovecraft or some such source on Matta. Considering how
Alexandrian describes his work ("Monstrous, tentacled,
clawed figures, like giant anthropomorphic insects soon
moved into his crackling universes"--"There is a temptation
to see his pictures in terms of science fiction, with
extraterrestrial battles and galactic flights"), some such
influence seems very likely.
--
Dan Clore
Now available: _The Unspeakable and Others_
All my fiction through 2001 and more. Intro by S.T. Joshi.
http://www.wildsidepress.com/index2.htm
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1587154838/thedanclorenecro
Lord Weÿrdgliffe and Necronomicon Page:
J.B.L.
>Lovecraft or some such source on Matta
True; but as far as I know, Matta himself never specified Lovecraft as an
influence, while Gerardo Chavez did. More reason for my earlier suspicions.
james ambuehl
Here's the URL for a very detailed and expansive gallery for Roberto
Matta (I didn't see 'Icrogy' or 'Rghuin' during a brief and frankly
sheerly overwhelmed viewing, I definitely need to spend more time with
his works soon, but one can definitely see where Matta is a student of
the outre and chaotic and could easily be influenced by Lovecraft):
----------------------------------------
And here's a shorter, easier-loading one (look especially at the
paintings "The Unthinkable" and the one following it):
http://fusionanomly.net/robertomatta.html
(And definitely check out FUSIONANOMALY's page on Lovecraft when you get
a chance -- the "Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road?" answer is a real
hoot . . .)
------------------------------------
OK, I couldn't find anything stating directly that Matta was influenced
by Lovecraft, but here's two pages that document his influence on
Matta's friend and fellow artist, Gerardo Chavez:
http://www.laprensa-sandiego.org/achieve/august13/peru.htm
http://www.molaa.com/chavez.htm
----------------------------------------
Taking all of the above information, and ruminating further upon it, I
also note that both artists were also friends with another artist,
Jackson Pollock. Now a few years ago a film was made about his life,
starring Ed Harris as Pollock. Now wouldn't it be something if some
enterprising filmmaker could make a WHOLE WIDE WORLD type
pseudo-documentary movie about the friendship of Matta and Chavez,
complete with late-night discussions between the two friends on the
merits of Lovecraft's work . . . complete with representative viewings
of each artist's most Lovecraftian work? ;-)
james ambuehl
.
Dan, J. B., as I mentioned before, this avenue of research we have begun
to embark upon is really reading like something out of the Cthulhu
Mythos! With that in mind, what I really want to know is: which of us
three is the guy who initially follows up on the research, only to
strangely disappear one night, never to be seen again on this humble
sphere; which of us is the one who dreams strange disjointed dreams of
that one's murky fate, and with the former's notes firmly in hand begins
to follow up on said research, to surely be driven mad by what he
ultimately finds; and, praytell, which of us merely wears the fleshy
shell of a man, as a man might himself wear a jacket or suit, for what
fell purpose none could even dare to hazard a guess . . . which is to
say (though I hardly dare to utter the damnable words): which of us is
in truth naught but the monstrous Rghuin or even the fecund Icrogy
walking this ignorant and doomed Earth in mortal guise?!?
james ambuehl
.
Dan, J. B., as I mentioned before, this avenue of research we have begun
to embark upon is really reading like something out of the Cthulhu
Mythos! With that in mind, what I really want to know is: which of us
three is the guy who initially follows up on the research, only to
strangely disappear one night, never to be seen again on this humble
sphere; which of us is the one who dreams strange disjointed dreams of
that one's murky fate, and with the former's notes firmly in hand begins
to follow up on said research, to surely be driven mad by what he
ultimately finds; and, praytell, which of us merely wears the fleshy
shell of a man, as a man might himself wear a jacket or suit, which is
Dan Clore
>
> Ah, the plot thickens, so to speak!:
>
> Here's the URL for a very detailed and expansive gallery for Roberto
> Matta (I didn't see 'Icrogy' or 'Rghuin' during a brief and frankly
> sheerly overwhelmed viewing, I definitely need to spend more time with
> his works soon, but one can definitely see where Matta is a student of
> the outre and chaotic and could easily be influenced by Lovecraft):
Yeah, whether there's any direct connection to HPL or not,
Matta's work is fabulous and worth looking at; many of the
pieces have obvious genre connections. The 1950 painting
titled "Let's Phosphoresce", for example, seems to show a
mad scientist bending over his female victim (Frankenstein
monster?) in his laboratory. That doesn't do justice to the
subject, of course, go look for yourself and tell me what
you think of this painting. I have now become obsessed--
--
Dan Clore
Now available: _The Unspeakable and Others_
All my fiction through 2001 and more. Intro by S.T. Joshi.
http://www.wildsidepress.com/index2.htm
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1587154838/thedanclorenecro
Lord We˙rdgliffe and Necronomicon Page:
jeanannd
being carried off and go to join the mad dance to weird flute music. ;)
-- - - -- -- - --- -- -
^ ^
>"< jeanannd
/ I \ /
\ / I \/
"james ambuehl" <jamesa...@webtv.net> wrote in message
news:10833-3E3...@storefull-2294.public.lawson.webtv.net...
J.B.L.
>subject, of course, go look for yourself and tell me what
>you think of this painting. I have now become obsessed--
You should be! Matta was 10,000x the Lovecraftian that Giger is, even if he
never read a word of HPL. He should be as well known in our Tindalos-free
circles as Richard Upton Pickman! Those images...those figures..those
angles...god, that hand! The window! The window!