Sans titre (Untitled)
Roberto Matta
- Date:1972
- Technique:Pastel on paper
- Dimensions:50 x 65 cm
- Category: Work on paper, Drawing
- Entry date:2010
- Register number:AD05959
One of Roberto Matta’s creative process strategies was his exploration of the treatment of the spatial dimension within each work. Matta studied architecture at the Universidad Católica de Chile, where he developed his concept of psychological morphology applied to architecture. This psychological approach to space was at the core of his projects on habitats, which were a statement of rehumanisation of rationalist architecture, an attempt to restore the balance between public space and collective living. Sans titre (Untitled) is part of the recreation of Matta’s graduation project, Liga de las Religiones which was done between 1932 and 1933 but is currently lost. In the 1960s and 1970s, Matta reproduced from memory a number of drawings related to the work, which devised a project designed as a place for meeting, discussion and coexistence for a variety of beliefs. The project’s layout corresponded to the morphology of the human body, applying a biomorphic treatment to the architecture, as seen in this drawing. The series of drawings that Sans titre is taken from combines the knowledge and necessary reformulation of ideas from the Modern Movement in architecture with all that Matta had learnt during his time in the ranks of the Surrealists.