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colour cibachrome print

Executed in 1977, this work is unique in this size.
PROVENANCE

Galerie Schmela, Düsseldorf
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner in 1977
EXHIBITED

Kassel, Documenta VI, 1977
Düsseldorf, Städtische Kunsthalle, One for All, All for One, 1979

CATALOGUE NOTE

This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity signed by the artist and dated 12/15/77

Splitting executed in 1973, depicts an early twentieth century detached house in suburban New Jersey. This forlorn narrow two-storey dwelling was transformed by using a Sawzall, a large power version of a keyhole saw capable of piercing tough materials, to slice a one-inch-wide vertical line marking the exact middle of the house's longer axis. The cut extended from the foundation to the roof through the entire body of the house, where it neatly and implacably divided everything in its path. Matta-Clark then propped up one end of the house and bevelled down underneath the foundations and rested the house gently back on the descending incline, causing the narrow split at the centre to widen into a wedge open to the sky. The present lot depicts this magnificent spatial rift through the centre of the finished north façade at high noon, a project which has become his most iconic work and upon which he earned his important reputation.