Composición sobre fondo negro [Composition on Black Background]

In 1942 Francisco Matto became one of the founders of the Taller Torres-García through which he continued to develop his early interest in pre-Columbian art and to explore its relationship to contemporary abstraction. The gridlike composition of this work is rendered in a somewhat gestural style, resonating with references to Navajo weaving, Inca stonework, Nazca pottery, and the grids of European abstract artists such as Piet Mondrian. In common with other members of the Taller, Matto sought a universal, transcultural, nonreductive meaning for abstract art. The two circles in the middle of the grid, which can be read as eyes even without a realist representation as such, have an anthropomorphism and humor that is typical of Matto’s work, linking it to ancient cultures where utilitarian objects often contain suggestions of human forms. The brown cardboard ground is visible in several places, reinforcing the Taller’s interest both in poor materials and in the inherent flatness of painting, the latter a topic of debate in North American art of the same period, notably in Color Field painting.