Graphic Work, "Grabajo"

Roberto Matta aka Roberto Sebastián Antonio Matta Echaurren (1911 – 2002, Chile) ‘Grabajo’ (1979) is a limited-edition graphic work (i.e., color lithograph, numbered in the lower left and signed in the lower right margin). The image was one of 18 lithographs by various artists that were included in a book printed by Ediciones Polígrafa, Barcelona called "15 Years of Graphic Work". (See last photo) The colors in the very small edition print offered here are deeper than the ones included in the Poligrafa portfolio. The designation ‘3/8 H.R.’ in the lower left indicates a rare edition that may be from an earlier, trial proof of the piece before lightening the color tone. On the verso are faded stamps and a certificate from Christie’s specifying the artist, dimensions, title, and certificate number. The image is approximately 10 x 8 inches, and the double matted sheet is surrounded by a black wood frame measuring 19.25 x 15.25 inches.

Roberto Matta, was one of Chile's best-known painters and a seminal figure in 20th century abstract expressionist and surrealist art. He worked with many different types of media, including drawing, oil painting, ceramics, photography, printmaking, tapestry, furniture making, and sculpture. Many of Matta's works from his final decades exhibit a lightening of tone and color, and a turn towards more timeless, mythological, and mystical subject matter.