Friday, 8 May 2026

André Masson - part 6

André Masson (1896-1987) french painter, sculptor, illustrator, designer and writer, was born at Balagny (Oise). He spent most of his youth in Brussels, where he worked as a pattern-drawer in an embroidery studio and studied part-time at the Académie des Beaux-Arts. Then moved to Paris and studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts 1912-14. He served in the French Army 1914-19, and was gravely wounded. He lived in the South of France (1919-22), then returned to Paris where he met Gris, Derain, and later Miró and Breton. His first one-man exhibition was at the Galerie Simon, Paris in 1923. Paintings of forests, card players and still lifes, followed by experiments with automatic drawing. From 1924-9 he participated in the Surrealist movement. He made further works exploring chance effects, including sand paintings, as well as paintings of metamorphoses of animal and human forms, themes of germination, combats and massacres, with emphasis on violence and eroticism. He lived in Spain 1934-36 where he made paintings of bullfights, Spanish myths, etc. He took refuge in the USA between 1941-45, where he lived at New Preston, Connecticut, and made works inspired by the elemental forces of nature. He returned to France in 1945 and settled in Aix-en-Provence in 1947. Here he painted landscape themes such as mountains and waterfalls for several years, followed by some almost completely abstract pieces. His works also include sets and costumes for the theatre, book illustrations and a number of small sculptures.

This is part 6 of 15-part series on the works of André Masson:

1953 Woman in a chair or Woman taking off her shirt
bronze 64.2 x 56.7 x 26 cm

c1954 Fish
charcoal on paper 44 x 48.5 cm

1954 The Cockerel
ink on paper 49.7 x 65 cm

1954 The Apparition
colour lithograph on paper 50.1 x 38.1 cm

1954 Nude
ink on paper 26.5 x 21 cm

1954 An Undine
aquatint on paper 19.8 x 24.3 cm (plate)

1955 Cosmic Bird
etching and aquatint 32.8 x 42.5 cm

1955 Composition
sand on paper 50 x 65 cm

1955 Chinese Actors
gouache and pastels on paper 62 x 45.5 cm


1955 Bones and Chrysalids
lithograph 56.4 x 37.6 cm (composition)

1955 Along the Water's Edge
tempera, ink and feathers on paper laid down on canvas
30.9 x 49.5 cm

1955 Mimes
gouache and spray paint on brown paper 29.5 x 21.1 cm

1955 Metamorphosis
colour lithograph on paper c43.5 x 55.5 cm

1955 Kabuki no. 13
gouache on paper 31 x 25 cm

1955 Figures
gouache on paper 32.3 x 30.4 cm

1955 Cosmic Germination 
pastel and collage on paper 63 x 48.8 cm

1955 Star Bodies
colour lithograph on paper 38.7 x 45.7 cm

1955 Scorpionfish
oil on canvas 80 x 95 cm

1955 Riding
sand on paper 50 x 65 cm

1955 Pursuit
coloured etching on paper 43.8 x 58.9 cm

1955 Phoenix
colour lithograph on cream wove paper 50.1 x 66 cm

1955 Nocturne in Blue and Purple
gouache, watercolour and ink on paper 25.3 x 32.6 cm

1955 Vegetable
etching and aquatint on paper 42.8 x 52.6 cm

1955 Untitled
gouache on cardboard laid down on canvas 33 x 27 cm

1955 Underground Metamorphosis
gouache and sand on paper 44.5 x 50.5 cm

1955 The Source of the Loue
oil on board 54 x 64 cm

1955 The light on the Torrent
oil on canvas 55 x 46 cm

1955 Star, Winged Being, Fish
oil, sand and glue on canvas 55.1 x 38 cm
Tate Gallery, London

1955, published 1956 Les Hain-Teny
etching and aquatint 43 x 33.3 cm (composition)
Tate Gallery, London

c1955-58 Composition
oil on canvas 60 x 50 cm

c1955 Rue Saint Denis
gouache on paper 32 x 50 cm

1956 Blue Mountain
colour lithograph c43 x 57 cm

1956 Birth of a Cicada
ink on paper 50 x 64 cm

1956 Bird Ghosts
gouache on paper 33 x 40 cm

1956 Beyond the Concern
oil on canvas 33 x 41.3 cm

1956 Attacked by Birds
oil and sand on canvas 75 x 90.1 cm
MoMA, New York


1956 Un Poème dans chaque livre by Paul Éluard (A Poem for each book by Paul Éluard)

An illustrated book with seven etchings (three with aquatint, one

with aquatint, drypoint, engraving, and roulette), three drypoints (one with engraving), two aquatints, two woodcuts, one engraving, and one lithograph.

1956 A Poem in Every Book by Paul Éluard
aquatint 18.9 x 17.9 cm (page)

1956 Reclining Nude
lithograph 50.4 x 65 cm (sheet)

1956 Pool at the Villa d'Este
lithograph 38.3 x 27.9 cm (composition)

1956 On the Street
watercolour on paper applied to canvas 44 x 28 cm

1956 Mist in the Valley of the Arc
lithograph 42 x 53.5 cm (composition)

1956 In the wind I
oil and sand on canvas 92.5 x 73 cm
 

1956 Green Nude
lithograph 28.4 x 19.5 cm (composition)

1956 Flowers ravaged by Insects
oil on canvas 59.8 x 50.2 cm

1956 Capture
colour lithograph on paper 60 x 46 cm

1956 Boats in Venice
lithograph 37.5 x 50.2 cm (composition)

1956 Blue Vase
lithograph 36.8 x 29.3 cm (composition)


 

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