Last days of Another Way of Seeing by Francisco Matto

Matto's vision can be summarized as the search for "elemental forms."  By eliminating the superfluous and concentrating on the most important lines and volumes from reality, his works condense meaning with the most expressive simplicity.  His minimalist and austere wood reliefs, totems, and paintings, have a magic quality that derives from the organic simplicity of the forms and the delicate interplay of rhythm and proportion.  With a sensitive line and a subtle touch of color, Matto redeemed the rough surface and texture of used and discarded wood, imprinting on it the clarity and power of his unique personality.

According to Mari Carmen Ramírez, curator of Latin American Art at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Matto's planar totem sculptures and wood reliefs blend into a single shape, and form multiple allusions to the symbols and expressions of ancient civilizations, and in particular, of pre-Columbian art.  As early as 1932, Matto traveled to Southern Argentina and Chile where he became aware of the aesthetic as well as the religious and ritualistic functions of tribal art.  Over time he put together a remarkable collection of Peruvian and Mexican Pre-Columbian art, which was a source of inspiration for him.  One of Joaquín Torres-García’s most innovative and talented students, Francisco Matto assimilated, but went beyond the constructivist aesthetic of the Taller Torres-García, creating a fresh and vibrant fusion of the old and the new.