Towards a poetics of revolution: a transnational approach to Roberto Matta's works from the 1960s and 1970s

Abstract

This thesis examines the intersections of art and politics in the 1960s and 1970s work of Chilean-born surrealist artist Roberto Sebastián Matta Echaurren (1911–2002), situating his work in the context of post-war surrealism. It investigates the artist’s contribution to the efforts of international artists and intellectuals seeking to redefine the social role of art in the polarised context of the Cold War (1947–1991). During the period studied, Matta worked in diverse contexts, including Cuba, Chile, France, and Italy. While critical literature has acknowledged the central role Matta had within the surrealist group in the wartime years, there has not been a systematic examination of the works that the artist created during the period that frames this study, nor an effort to define Matta’s understanding of revolutionary art and its contribution to the political agency of surrealism. In light of this, this thesis engages with a more diversified corpus of the artist and proposes an approach that emphasises the transnational and political dimension of his oeuvre. This thesis identifies three historical moments that informed Matta’s growing social consciousness in the 1960s and 1970s: the Cuban Revolution (1953–1959), the events of May ’68 in France, and the rise and fall of the socialist project led by President Salvador Allende (1908–1973) and the Unidad Popular in Chile in the early 1970s. Examining Matta’s artistic practice under this periodisation, this thesis demonstrates the political agency of the artist’s later work and its significance as a case study for new art historical narratives. Chapter 1 examines Matta’s attention to the Cuban Revolution through artworks and texts by the artist that relate thematically or through materials with cultural discourses that shaped the first decade of the Cuban revolutionary process. This chapter also offers an overview of the reception of modernist languages in Cuba from the 1920s to the 1960s to identify the cultural and artistic conditions that facilitated Matta’s participation in the local scene in the 1960s. Chapter 2 examines Matta’s artistic activity during May ’68. First, it explores Matta’s participation in these events, and second, it focuses on the artist’s use of humour as a tool for social critique. Finally, Chapter 3 addresses Matta’s relationship with Chile in the early 1970s. This chapter also discusses Matta’s participation in solidarity initiatives with the Chilean people organised in Italy after the 1973 coup d’état.