The magazine offers a fascinating tour of the first link of the chain on which all terrestrial life depends, compiling copies of unpublished documents and drawings from the first Spanish botanical expeditions of the 18th century, photographs and texts by classical, avant-garde and contemporary creators showing their vision of a thrilling world.
The magazine presents historical gems such as Arcimboldo’s works and copies of Carolus Linnaeus’ Systema Naturae, Thaddaeus Haenke’s colour palette and botanical drawings by Ruiz and Pavon. Accompanying these there are texts by classics such as Ramón y Cajal, Alexander von Humboldt and Aimé Bonpland and contemporary experts such as Pepe Carrión, Tod Stuessy and Pedro Jordano. The artistic angle is provided by the photos of Imogen Cunningham, Paul Strand, Helene Schmitz, Rodney Graham and Stephen Gill and the work of Rose Chalalai Singh, which explores the relationship between cuisine and botany. Belén Gopegui, Llucia Ramis, Andrés Ibáñez and Aixa de la Cruz are responsible for providing literary reflections. Matador R is completed with photos of the «Matadores»: three roses exquisitely photographed by Ciuco Gutiérrez.
Juan Uslé puts his signature to Bitácora Lux, an Artist’s Sketchbook consisting of twenty watercolours and a text created exclusively for this edition of Matador.
The Uslé wine shows the essence of the grape variety of the Mallorcan winery, 4Kilos, whose winemaking work involves maximum respect and minimum impact.
Matador, a unique magazine
Each Matador, designed by Pablo Rubio/Erretres, is a bilingual, monographic volume –a collector’s piece- with an extraordinary 30×40 cm format. Integrated into the concept of the magazine is a cultural phenomenon that offers a wine and an artist’s sketchbook every year. Matador is a unique and finite project that began in 1995 with the letter A and will end in 2022 with the letter Z. Leading artists, writers, designers and photographers undertake a creative adventure specially designed for the magazine: exploring the dimensions of a topic, which always goes one step beyond, always deals with a feeling, an idea, an obsession. Since 1995, Matador has explored the areas of art, the artist’s mind, chaos, dreams, fear, utopia and beauty, among others, and has let itself be carried away by some of the most stimulating sources for the imagination: the Mediterranean, Iberia, the East, Mexico… Throughout these years, numerous figures from the world of culture have participated in the creation of the magazine, while others have joined the project as subscribers: Yves Saint Laurent, Oliver Stone, Rafael Alberti, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Cees Nooteboom, Enrique Morente, Nobuyoshi Araki, James Nachtwey, Ramón Masats, Juan Mari Arzak, Eduardo Chillida and Miquel Barceló, among others.
