American & European Art 
14 November 2024
American & European Art 
120

André Masson 1896–1987

Untitled

1968
crayon and felt marker on paper sight: 14¾ h × 11¼ w in (37 × 29 cm)
estimate: $2,000–3,000
result: $2,772
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Signed, dated and inscribed to upper and lower edges ‘Paris 9 Janvier 1968 Pour nos amis ... André Masson’.
provenance: The Artist | Gifted by the previous to Eddy Novarro | Private Collection, Germany | Private Collection

This work will ship from Lambertville, New Jersey.

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Representation is never free enough for anyone who has long been on the road toward his own being… Abstraction is never expressive enough for one whose sole demand is to listen to the call of being.

André Masson

André Masson 1896–1987

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André-Aimé-René Masson was a French painter, sculptor, illustrator, designer, and author. Born north of Paris in 1896, he was raised in Belgium and classically trained in the fine arts throughout childhood in both Brussels and Paris.

While generally known for his contributions to the Surrealist movement, his work evades a singular classification in twentieth century art. In his early years, he experimented with Cubism and Surrealism associating with fellow Surrealists Joan Miró and Max Ernst. His automatic drawing work, which involved expressing emerging images from the unconscious, was published in the Surrealist journal La révolution surrealiste in 1925.

Masson dissociated with the movement during the early 1930s following differences with core theories, but reconciled near the end of the decade. During this time he explored deeper themes of violence influenced by trauma from time served in WWI where he suffered a severe wound. He also drew inspiration from the natural landscape prompting elements of biomorphic abstraction in his work and depicted themes of human nature and eroticism which continued throughout his career.

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