Details

Provenance

Daniel Cordier, Paris Galerie de Seine, Paris Haakon Christensen, Oslo Private Collection, United Kingdom (acquired from the above) Thence by descent

Exhibited

London, Institute of Contemporary Art, 1952 Paris, Galerie de Seine, Le Musée volé de Michel Lancelot , 1979, n.n. Condition This work is in good condition overall. The canvas is unlined and well-stretched. The colors are vibrant, and the media layer is stable overall. Isolated areas of fine craquelure are present along each of the extreme edges of the canvas. A few minor media losses are present along the extreme upper and extreme lower edges of the canvas, and a few isolated pinpoint spots are present throughout. However, the media layer is stable overall. Under ultraviolet light examination, a few isolated minor areas of inpainting become apparent in each of the extreme corners and along the extreme lower edge of the canvas. This work should be hung in its current state. 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. NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE. Catalogue Note "Matta defines his concept of time as a “spatial opera”. The collective and individual psyche experiences an explosion, where there is not just movement but also metamorphosis and landscapes full of sound and energy. These are implosive centrifugal voyages conceived by Matta as emotional processes of awareness-raising. Exuberant landscapes blow the physical world up in a chaos of energy, in an anarchic and irreverent uprising against the orders of Euclidian space. Matta’s abstraction is tactile and erotic, seeing the oneiric universe of the unconscious not as a refuge from mechanized alienating reality, but as a potential intensification of the real in new inhabitable spaces." Matta (1960-70) Humanized Architecture, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, 2013

Catalog summary

Matta Le Tempête Signed Matta and indistinctly inscribed (on the reverse) Oil on canvas 55 1/2 by 58 1/4 in. 141 by 148 cm Painted circa 1947-48. Provenance Daniel Cordier, Paris Galerie de Seine, Paris Haakon Christensen, Oslo Private Collection, United Kingdom (acquired from the above) Thence by descent Exhibited London, Institute of Contemporary Art, 1952 Paris, Galerie de Seine, Le Musée volé de Michel Lancelot , 1979, n.n. Condition This work is in good condition overall. The canvas is unlined and well-stretched. The colors are vibrant, and the media layer is stable overall. Isolated areas of fine craquelure are present along each of the extreme edges of the canvas. A few minor media losses are present along the extreme upper and extreme lower edges of the canvas, and a few isolated pinpoint spots are present throughout. However, the media layer is stable overall. Under ultraviolet light examination, a few isolated minor areas of inpainting become apparent in each of the extreme corners and along the extreme lower edge of the canvas. This work should be hung in its current state. 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. NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE. Catalogue Note "Matta defines his concept of time as a “spatial opera”. The collective and individual psyche experiences an explosion, where there is not just movement but also metamorphosis and landscapes full of sound and energy. These are implosive centrifugal voyages conceived by Matta as emotional processes of awareness-raising. Exuberant landscapes blow the physical world up in a chaos of energy, in an anarchic and irreverent uprising against the orders of Euclidian space. Matta’s abstraction is tactile and erotic, seeing the oneiric universe of the unconscious not as a refuge from mechanized alienating reality, but as a potential intensification of the real in new inhabitable spaces." Matta (1960-70) Humanized Architecture, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, 2013