Mark -- I think abstraction and gross distortions of the modernist variety have been grossly over-sold to the public for many decades. Therefore, I am one of those who is trying to help educate people that what modernists condemned wasn't all that bad.
But that was not my intent here. I was simply pointing out an apparent similarity of treatment, and set other consideration aside.
May 12, 2016 at 5:52 AM
Roberto Matta (1911-2002) was a surrealist and abstractionist painter from Chile who had a long, successful career, dying age 91. His Wikipedia entry is here.
Around the time he was 80 he painted in a style that reminds me of that of Mark Tobey (1890-1976), who I wrote about here. Matta lived in the USA for most of the 1940s, so it's hard to believe that he was unaware of Tobey's emerging "white writing" style. But it's possible that, 45 years later, he might have forgotten what he had once known.
For what it might be worth, below are some examples of Tobey's work along with some late Matta's that strike be as being similar in style and spirit.
Gallery Tobey ...
[Image]People - 1945
[Image]The New Day - c.1945
[Image]Lovers of Light - 1961
Matta ...
[Image]L'Ultima Cena - 1985
[Image]Cosmos Mental - 1991
[Image]The Fall (Autoritratto d'ognuno) - 1991
posted by Donald Pittenger at 1:00 AM on May 12, 2016
2 Comments
Close this window Jump to comment formDon't you usually rail against this kind of art?
May 12, 2016 at 4:50 AM
Mark -- I think abstraction and gross distortions of the modernist variety have been grossly over-sold to the public for many decades. Therefore, I am one of those who is trying to help educate people that what modernists condemned wasn't all that bad.
But that was not my intent here. I was simply pointing out an apparent similarity of treatment, and set other consideration aside.
May 12, 2016 at 5:52 AM