André Masson1933 drawing by French artist Andre Masson 'Le Cavalier Amoureux'1933
1933
About the Item
- Creator:André Masson (1896-1987, French)
- Creation Year:1933
- Dimensions:Height: 17.5 in (44.45 cm)Width: 23.38 in (59.39 cm)Depth: 1 in (2.54 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:Three small fox marks to upper middle on close inspection. In very good order otherwise. In a thick white mount, behind glass. In a gilded frame with black outer section containing gilt ornament to corners and centre sections.
- Gallery Location:Petworth, GB
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU54037116832
André Masson
Born in 1896 in Balagny-sur- Thérain, a small village in France, André Masson spent most of his youth in Brussels, Belgium working as a pattern maker at an embroidery atelier. Masson began his schooling in 1907 at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels. In 1912, he relocated to Paris, where he attended the École des Beaux-Arts. In 1914, the artist was called to military duty for the First World War, where he was severely wounded and sent back to Paris. Much of Masson’s work is influenced by this trauma; his drawings and paintings executed during the 1920s represent battle scenes, blood, death, birds and fish. The strange realities of trench warfare and the immediate contiguity of life and death are drawn upon, and his imagery suggests a confrontation of life at an abnormal level of experience. His signature style deals with violence, evident in terrifying, fragmented figures, which reflect the horrors of the Spanish Civil War and WWII, as well as his troubled psyche in the aftermath of his service in WWI.
After WWI, Masson moved to the South of France, where he met Juan Gris, André Derain, Joan Miró and André Breton. Breton championed the Surrealist Manifesto and Masson joined in the group exhibition of the first Surrealists. An iconoclast, whose abrupt stylistic transitions defy classification, Masson also explored automatism (automatic drawing), a process that sought to express the creative force of the unconscious. These automatic drawings had no preconceived subject or composition. Like a medium channeling a spirit, Masson let his pen travel rapidly across the paper without conscious control. He soon found hints of images, fragmented bodies and objects, emerging from the abstract, lacelike web of pen marks. At times, Masson elaborated on these with conscious changes or additions, but he left the traces of the rapidly drawn ink mostly intact. Masson’s oeuvre explores several techniques of painting, drawing and sculpture and displays rich, colorful abstraction as well as monochrome imagery and automatic linear representations. An early Surrealist and student of Cubism, Masson went on to inspire the New York Abstract Expressionists. Masson developed a technique of automatic painting that retained the element of chance; he dripped glue onto paper to form drawings and then covered it with sand. These ‘sand paintings’ are unquestionably his most iconic style.
When Masson emigrated to the U.S. in 1939, he strongly influenced several American painters with this technique, the most evident example being Jackson Pollack. After his time in America, he returned to Europe and while living in Spain during the mid-1930s, he became enraptured with Spanish themes—bullfights, matadors and Spanish mythology. Masson finally settled down in France (Aix-en-Provence), where he took up a late interest in impressionistic landscape, but he ultimately came to a place where he painted nearly exclusively abstract images. Masson dedicated his life as an artist to encouraging the non-rational purpose in art, to the direct transference of subconscious thought and to the primal forces of conflicts that he experienced in the trenches of World War One. Masson sought to convey in his work a deeper reality of man’s behavior, his own complex personal imagery, and his belief that painting is not a matter of developing style but a part of life itself.
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: Petworth, United Kingdom
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 10 days of delivery.
- Abstract female in blues and yellow by Modern British 20th C artist, Ewart JohnsLocated in Petworth, West SussexA really striking and original work by mid century Modern British artist, Ewart Johns (1923 - 2013). This eye-catching piece depicted in contrasting yellows and blues was executed i...Category
20th Century Abstract Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsPastel, Paper
- Abstract mythological portrait in blue by Modern British artist Ewart JohnsLocated in Petworth, West SussexThis mythological abstract portrait, 'Blue Deity', uses rich shades of blue to contrast with the white pastel against the paper. The figure wears an elaborate and exotic headdress, a...Category
20th Century Abstract Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsPastel
- Pastel on paper by German / British Hans Feibush, 'Diana and Actaeon', 20th CentLocated in Petworth, West SussexA very striking work by German/British artist Hans Feibusch: Diana and Actaeon. Escaping the grip of Nazi Germany in 1933, Hans Feibusch sought refuge in Britain. In 1934, he debute...Category
20th Century Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsPaper, Pastel
- Early 20th Century head study in pastel by Belgian artist Emile Barthelemy FabryLocated in Petworth, West SussexEmile Barthelemy Fabry (Belgian, 1865 – 1966) Head study Pastel on paper Signed ‘Emile Fabry’ (lower left) 15 x 12 in. (38.2 x 30.5 cm.) £850 Emile Fabry was a highly regarded Belgian symbolist painter who became a refugee in St. Ives during the first world war. This work is a study of a lady from St. Ives during this period. He was commissioned by University College Cardiff to paint two large...Category
20th Century Academic Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsPaper, Pastel
- French Surrealist pastel drawing 'The Fall from the Horse' by Marchand des RauxLocated in Petworth, West SussexA striking Surrealist work by the French 20th Century artist Louis Marchand des Raux. Louis Marchand des Raux was a self-taught amateur painter who caught the eye of the famous deal...Category
20th Century Surrealist Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsPaper, Pastel
- French Surrealist pastel drawing 'In front of the church' by Marchand des RauxLocated in Petworth, West SussexA striking Surrealist work by the French 20th Century artist Louis Marchand des Raux. Louis Marchand des Raux was a self-taught amateur painter who caught the eye of the famous deal...Category
20th Century Surrealist Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsPaper, Pastel
- Untitled-048 nude pastel by Hans BurkhardtBy Hans BurkhardtLocated in Hudson, NYHans Burkhardt regularly created pastels from life models, and this is a lovely example of that. He regularly maintained an interest in figural work throughout his long and diverse c...Category
1970s Abstract Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsPaper, Pastel
- Judith Brenner, Sophie Dancing 1, Original Figurative Art, Abstract Sketch ArtBy Judith BrennerLocated in Deddington, GBJudith Brenner Sophie Dancing 1 Original Figurative Drawing Acrylic Paint, Pan Pastel, Ink and Watercolour Pencil on Paper Sheet Size: 84.1cm x W 59.4cm x D 0.1cm Sold Unframed Please note that in situ images are purely an indication of how a piece may look. Sophie Dancing 1 is an original nude drawing by Judith Brenner.The figure is continuously moving and the final work is a composition made in an attempt to capture the rhythm of the dance. This abstract-impressionistic work is evocative of Francis Bacon’s style...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Impressionist Mixed Media
MaterialsPaper, Pastel, Ink, Watercolor, Pen
- Judith Brenner, Sophie Dancing 2, Original Abstract Impressionist Nude SketchBy Judith BrennerLocated in Deddington, GBJudith Brenner Sophie Dancing 2 Original Nude Drawing Mixed Media on Paper Sheet Size: H 84.1cm x W 59.4cm x D 0.1cm Sold Unframed (Please note that in situ images are purely an indi...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Impressionist Nude Drawings and W...
MaterialsMixed Media, Acrylic, Watercolor, Paper, Pastel, Ink
- Judith Brenner, Solfrid Dancing 2, Original Contemporary Figurative Nude SketchBy Judith BrennerLocated in Deddington, GBJudith Brenner Solfrid Dancing 2 Original Figurative Drawing Acrylic Paint, Pan Pastel, Ink and Watercolour Pencil on Paper Sheet Size: 84.1cm x W 59.4cm x D 0.1cm Sold Unframed Plea...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Impressionist Figurative Drawings...
MaterialsPaper, Pastel, Ink, Mixed Media, Acrylic, Watercolor
- Modernist Avant-Gard Figurative Abstract, Large-Scale Primary Colors PastelBy Henry ElinsonLocated in Soquel, CAStunning modernist avant-garde figurative abstract pastel in deep royal blue, with red and yellow accents by Henry Elinson (Californian/Russian 1935-2010), 1996. Signed and dated "H....Category
1960s Abstract Expressionist Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsPaper, Pastel
- Reclining Nude - Blue Abstract FigurativeBy Louis NadaliniLocated in Soquel, CAAbstract figurative reclining nude by Louis Nadalini (American, 1927-1995). This piece is unsigned, but was acquired with a collection of Nadalini work. Unframed (First image shows w...Category
1980s Abstract Expressionist Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsPaper, Pastel, Pencil