André Masson1974 Andre Masson 'Le Septieme Chant II' Expressionism Brown, White France 1974
1974
About the Item
- Creator:André Masson (1896-1987, French)
- Creation Year:1974
- Dimensions:Height: 14.75 in (37.47 cm)Width: 11 in (27.94 cm)Depth: 0.1 in (2.54 mm)
- Medium:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:Brooklyn, NY
- Reference Number:
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: Brooklyn, NY
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 14 days of delivery.
- Kerry James Marshall-Untitled (Handsome Young Man)-24.5" x 19"-Etching-2010By Kerry James MarshallLocated in Brooklyn, NYPaper Size: 24.5 x 19 inches ( 62.23 x 48.26 cm ) Image Size: 16 x 12 inches ( 40.64 x 30.48 cm ) Framed: No Condition: A: Mint Additional Details: Hand signed, titled, dated and numbered out of 50 in pencil by Marshall. Hardground etching with aquatint printed on Somerset white paper. Published by Paulson Fontaine Press...Category
2010s Prints and Multiples
MaterialsEtching
- After Robert Motherwell 'Dance I' 1979 - EtchingBy Robert MotherwellLocated in Brooklyn, NYPaper Size: 14 x 26.5 inches ( 35.56 x 67.31 cm ) Image Size: 14 x 26.5 inches ( 35.56 x 67.31 cm ) Framed: No Condition: A-: Near Mint, very light signs of handling Additional...Category
1970s Contemporary Prints and Multiples
MaterialsEtching
- Raphael Soyer-Gentlemen From Cracow-EtchingBy Raphael SoyerLocated in Brooklyn, NYHand colored etching. Four Images depicting A lady dancing, a Jewish man making a shoe, a Jewish man sewing and 2 Jewish musicians playing a violin and a flute. Edition 139 of 150. F...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Prints and Multiples
MaterialsEtching
- 1987 Glenn Goldberg 'Paco + J.J.'By Glenn GoldbergLocated in Brooklyn, NYPaper Size: 35.75 x 29.5 inches ( 90.805 x 74.93 cm ) Image Size: 30.25 x 22.75 inches ( 76.835 x 57.785 cm ) Framed: No Condition: A: Mint Additional Details: Titled, Numbered...Category
1980s Contemporary Prints and Multiples
MaterialsEtching
- Jean-Michel Folon-1982 Roland Garros French Open--HAND SIGNEDBy Jean-Michel FolonLocated in Brooklyn, NYSigned and Numbered out of 90 in pencil. The Roland Garros French Open tournament has recruited notable artists since 1981 - when Eduardo Arroyo created series of pictures that remains the favorite for many. These posters have not only always been more artistic than those of the US and Australian Open...Category
20th Century Contemporary Prints and Multiples
MaterialsEtching
- Max Papart-Chromatic Composition-SIGNEDBy Max PapartLocated in Brooklyn, NYHand signed and numbered out of 60 in pencil by Papart. Printed on heavy textured paper.Category
20th Century Contemporary Prints and Multiples
MaterialsEtching
- I Learned Helplessness from RatsBy Bruce NaumanLocated in New York, NYFrame size: 23 x 25 3/8 inches Catalogue Raisonne: Cordes 61 Edition size: 35, plus proofs Signed, dated, and numbered in pencil, lower marginCategory
1980s More Prints
MaterialsDrypoint, Etching
- Carmen Head of a Woman with Closed Eyes (Plate XXII)By Pablo PicassoLocated in Washington, DCArtist: Pablo Picasso Title: Head of a Woman with Closed Eyes (Plate XXII) Portfolio: Carmen Medium: Etching on Montval wove paper Year: 1949 Edition: 289 Frame Size: 22" x 19" Sheet...Category
1940s Portrait Prints
MaterialsEtching
- Il y a Des Soldats - Etching attr. to S. Dalì - 1973By Salvador DalíLocated in Roma, ITIl ya a des Soldats (There are Some Soldiers) is an original etching and drypoint realized by Salvador Dalì in 1973. It belongs to the series "Poi, Je t'Attends à Babylone", a suite ...Category
1970s Surrealist Figurative Prints
MaterialsEtching
- The Convict and his CompanionBy Joan MiróLocated in London, GBJOAN MIRÓ 1893-1983 Montroig 1893-1983 Mallorca (Spanish) Title: The Convict and his Companion Le Bagnard et sa Compagne, 1975 Technique: Original Hand Signed and Numbered Etchi...Category
1970s Surrealist Abstract Prints
MaterialsEtching, Aquatint
- Photographs and Etchings, Jim Dine and Lee Friedlander Portfolio 1969By Jim DineLocated in Long Island City, NYArtist: Jim Dine, American (1935 - ) and Lee Friedlander, American (1934 - ) Title: Photographs and Etchings Year: 1969 Medium: Portfolio of 16 Diptychs of Gelatin Silver Prints and ...Category
1960s Contemporary More Prints
MaterialsEtching, Silver Gelatin
- Ancient Roman Fresco Herculaneum - Etching by Carlo Oratij - 18th CenturyLocated in Roma, ITAncient Roman Fresco from the series "Antiquities of Herculaneum", is an etching on paper realized by Carlo Oratij in the 18th Century. Signed on the plate. Good conditions. The e...Category
Late 18th Century Old Masters Figurative Prints
MaterialsEtching