COPPER MEDAL TFP AWARDS 2000 ROBERTO MATTAID32305315
Roberto Sebastián Antonio Matta Echaurren completed his higher education at the Catholic University of Chile School of Architecture. His artistic training commenced in the Open Workshops at the University of Chile School of Fine Arts where he was a pupil of the painter Hernán Gazmuri. He left his country for Europe in 1933, worked at the studio of Le Corbusier in Paris, and while traveling around made the acquaintance of Spanish intellectuals including the poets Rafael Alberti and Federico García Lorca in Madrid.
In 1936 he settled in London where he worked with Walter Gropius and Moholy-Nagy and associated also with British artists and intellectuals like Henry Moore. He took part in the International Exhibition, working in the Spanish pavilion where he made contact with Magritte, Picasso and Miró. Through Lorca and Dalí he met André Bretón who after seeing his drawings invited him to form part of the surrealist group. He began to participate in important exhibitions such as the International Surrealism Exhibition held at the Paris Fine Arts Gallery. He did his first surrealist oil paintings which he originally called Psychological Morphologies and later named Inscape. In Paris he met Duchamp and kept in touch with him regularly. In 1939 he lived for a time with Pablo Neruda in La Roche-Guyon and in 1940 at the invitation of Duchamp he settled in New York (as did Yves Tanguy) together with his wife Anne. Here he held his first solo exhibition at the Julien Levy Gallery and joined the artistic and cultural circles of the city, becoming a great influence on North American surrealism.
In 1942 he went through an extremely active period as he exhibited alongside artists of renown like Picasso, Matisse y Leger. In addition he collaborated with various publications issued by the surrealist group. After returning to Europe in 1948 he was expelled from the surrealist group, but by the end of the fifties Matta was an acclaimed artist and was exhibiting his work in London, New York, Venice, Chicago, Rome, Washington and Paris.
In 1956 he painted the mural "Las dudas de tres mundos" for the UNESCO and also prepared a series of retrospectives of his work in New York, Stockholm and Paris. Invited in 1970 by President Salvador Allende, he returned to Chile, and worked on murals collectively with the "Ramona Parra" brigade. That same year he was deemed by the magazine Connaissance des Arts to be one of the ten best painters in the world. Winner of the Prince of Asturias Award in 2001, he acquired Spanish nationality, passing away in 2002.
| Year | 2,000 |
| Diameter (mm) | 60 |
| Metal | Copper |
| Weight (g) | 38 |
| Maximum Mintage (units) | 225 |
ROBERTO MATTA Santiago de Chile 1911 - Civitavecchia 2002)
Roberto Sebastián Antonio Matta Echaurren completed his higher education at the Catholic University of Chile School of Architecture. His artistic training commenced in the Open Workshops at the University of Chile School of Fine Arts where he was a pupil of the painter Hernán Gazmuri. He left his country for Europe in 1933, worked at the studio of Le Corbusier in Paris, and while traveling around made the acquaintance of Spanish intellectuals including the poets Rafael Alberti and Federico García Lorca in Madrid.
In 1936 he settled in London where he worked with Walter Gropius and Moholy-Nagy and associated also with British artists and intellectuals like Henry Moore. He took part in the International Exhibition, working in the Spanish pavilion where he made contact with Magritte, Picasso and Miró. Through Lorca and Dalí he met André Bretón who after seeing his drawings invited him to form part of the surrealist group. He began to participate in important exhibitions such as the International Surrealism Exhibition held at the Paris Fine Arts Gallery. He did his first surrealist oil paintings which he originally called Psychological Morphologies and later named Inscape. In Paris he met Duchamp and kept in touch with him regularly. In 1939 he lived for a time with Pablo Neruda in La Roche-Guyon and in 1940 at the invitation of Duchamp he settled in New York (as did Yves Tanguy) together with his wife Anne. Here he held his first solo exhibition at the Julien Levy Gallery and joined the artistic and cultural circles of the city, becoming a great influence on North American surrealism.
In 1942 he went through an extremely active period as he exhibited alongside artists of renown like Picasso, Matisse y Leger. In addition he collaborated with various publications issued by the surrealist group. After returning to Europe in 1948 he was expelled from the surrealist group, but by the end of the fifties Matta was an acclaimed artist and was exhibiting his work in London, New York, Venice, Chicago, Rome, Washington and Paris.
In 1956 he painted the mural "Las dudas de tres mundos" for the UNESCO and also prepared a series of retrospectives of his work in New York, Stockholm and Paris. Invited in 1970 by President Salvador Allende, he returned to Chile, and worked on murals collectively with the "Ramona Parra" brigade. That same year he was deemed by the magazine Connaissance des Arts to be one of the ten best painters in the world. Winner of the Prince of Asturias Award in 2001, he acquired Spanish nationality, passing away in 2002.