Message (Mensaje)

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Message (Mensaje)

Germany, active Mexico, 1967
Collages
Wood, steel sheet, gilding
27 1/2 × 27 1/2 × 2 1/2 in. (69.85 × 69.85 × 6.35 cm)
Gift of the 2007 Collectors Committee (M.2007.55)
Not currently on public view

Curator Notes

The rich texture and luminosity of Message (Mensaje) is designed to trigger a visceral reaction and foster contemplation. Mathias Goeritz was born in Germany and moved to Mexico in 1949....
The rich texture and luminosity of Message (Mensaje) is designed to trigger a visceral reaction and foster contemplation. Mathias Goeritz was born in Germany and moved to Mexico in 1949. By that time, murals in the narrative style of Diego Rivera (1886–1957) were discredited among some younger artists. Enormously influential as an artist and teacher, Goeritz promoted a new form of visual modernity anchored in geometric abstraction and a more cosmopolitan worldview. He is best known for monumental projects that blur the boundaries between sculpture and architecture, including Mexico City's the Echo Experimental Museum (1953) and the Towers of Satellite City (1957–58), a collaborative work with the Mexican architect Luis Barragán (1902–1988). He also created a number of works on a smaller, less architectural scale. Message (Mensaje) is one of the series of monochromatic plaques he began in 1957, and which reached its fullest expression in the 1960s. Ilona Katzew, 2008
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