Accession Number
1966/2.22

Title
Untitled (Plate I)

Artist(s)
Roberto Matta

Artist Nationality
Chilean

Object Creation Date
1959

Medium & Support
etching and aquatint with soft-ground and chine collé on paper

Dimensions
13 in x 10 3/4 in (33 cm x 27.3 cm);22 1/8 in x 18 in (56.2 cm x 45.8 cm)

Credit Line
Gift of Jean Paul Slusser

Label copy
This print is one of two plates that Matta created for a book of poetry by Alain Bosquet (born 1919). Other plates in the volume were made by Max Ernst, Jacques Hérold, Wifredo Lam, and Dorothéa Tanning. The plates were printed in the Atelier Georges Visat in Paris. The book was published by Editions Galerie Diderot in Paris.
The gesticulating, seated figures in Matta’s print are reminiscent of both genitalia and machines.
Label copy from exhibition "Dreamscapes: The Surrealist Impulse," August 22 - October 25, 1998

Subject matter
This print was included as an illustration for a book of Alain Bosquet's poetry. The book included illustrations by many surrealist artists of the time including Max Ernst and Dorothea Tanning. Matta's work features his characteristic precisely rendered, though fantastically conceived figures.

Physical Description
This abstract etching is covered in seemingly random black marks and smudges. There are also two main forms in the work: a yellow backwards "L" in the center and a loosely stacked sequence of green oval shapes, to the right. Each is outlined in black. The print is on white paper mounted on a pale blue paper. Artist's signature and edition number are included below the print.

Primary Object Classification
Print

Collection Area
Modern and Contemporary

Rights
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Keywords
Chilean
Figures
Portraits
Surrealism
abstraction
half-length
man
modern and contemporary art
poetry