André MASSON (Balagny sur Therain 1896-Paris 1987)

Marine Metamorphosis, circa 1954 Pastel, charcoal and graphite 36 x 49 cm Signed lower right André Masson Bearing in lower left the dry stamp AM of the estate and no. 1051 Provenance: Estate of André Masson Galerie Brimaud, Paris Private collection "André Masson wants to further integrate mythological themes, in the subjective sense, and he does so with extreme ardor: the myths explode under the thrust of allusions, of sudden irrational thickenings." Pierre Jean JOUVE quoted in André Masson, Marseille, André Dimanche éditeur, 1993, pp. 64-65. An early Surrealist, André Masson identified his personal inner turmoil with a Dionysian impulse. To approach the world in which he lived, the artist preferred myth to positivism. André Masson drew on his knowledge of Greek mythology and secular iconography to represent the dark forces of the world in which he lived. He succeeded in building a universe and a language all his own, made up of curved or sharp lines, vivid colors and a swarm of diverse figures. "Beyond all culture, and however extensive his own, Masson - an unprejudiced innovator who feeds off the great ancients - returns to original sources, predating even the birth of human art. Like an ignoramus who sets out on a journey and, along the way, discovers and marvels at everything. He has put his vast science in brackets. In the end, he can achieve the innocence (or extreme subtlety) of myth. A myth which is, of course, personal to him, but which - if everyone, forgetful as well as learned, were to retrace his own course - would turn out to be that of everyone. Michel LEIRIS, André Masson, Massacres et autres dessins, Paris, Hermann éditeurs des sciences et des arts, 1971