entered a deep depression that profoundly affected his artistic production. During this period of mourning he began working on a series of works entitled Mensajes (Messages). This was a new series of non-figurative works that was drastically different from any of the work he had done before, and Mensaje, c. 1960 is a prime example. All Mensajes are monochromatic and are covered in carefully applied gold leaf or puncture gold metal. The present is a particularly important example as it was part of another fruitful collaboration with Barragán. This particular type of Mensaje belongs to a group that Goeritz himself called “decorative” as they were created for specific houses in collaboration with prominent architects. They were purposefully simplified without clouage, or punctured metal, and fully covered in gold leaf. This work was commissioned for another monumental architectural project by Luis Barragán called the Casa Prieto-Lopez, part of the Jardines Pedregal community. Interestingly, this community was also a blooming cultural center and a hub of contemporary art. The piece was made specifically for the living room in the residence so that it would provoke an emotional engagement in visitors. Goertiz’s Mensajes were also meant to resonate with religious and medieval art. Goeritz considered the art of his time superficial and subject to decadent aesthetic pleasures. As a result of this perspective he praised Byzantine art as it was truly religious. For him, the gold leaf process was artisanal, rather than an artistic, and it alluded to the medieval gilders who hammered the gold leaf into the religious artwork. This also reflects Goeritz’s interest in creating collective works. Finally, for Goeritz, gold leaf was a way of giving light to a painting, without applying color to canvas, which was precisely what Goeritz disliked. Instead, he believed that the radiance of gold transcended reality in his Mensajes and allowed him to achieve a “purity” in light, which was really a “revelation of the spirit” (Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, El Retorno de la Serpiente—Mathias Goeritz—la Invención de la Arquitectura Emocional, Madrid, 2015, p.84). In short, Mensaje, circa 1960, epitomizes the collaboration between architecture and painting, which was the signature characteristic of the sophisticated, complex and extraordinary oeuvre of Mathias Goeritz.
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Alternate view of the present lot.
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