107 - André MASSON (Balagny-sur-Therain 1896–Paris 1987)

André MASSON (Balagny-sur-Therain 1896–Paris 1987) Faun Playing the Violin, circa 1960 Felt-tip pen on a sheet of letter paper 21 x 27 cm Dry stamp of the TA-AM estate in the lower right corner, numbered 73 A certificate from the Masson Committee will be provided to the purchaser Provenance: André Masson Studio Luis Masson by inheritance Carole Brimaud Gallery, Paris Acquired from the gallery by the current owner A leading figure in Surrealism, André Masson developed, in the aftermath of World War II, a body of work in which mythological imagery plays a central role. After his exile in the United States between 1941 and 1945, the artist returned to France in 1946, enriched by an American experience that profoundly transformed his pictorial language. Upon his return, he gradually settled in Provence, in Le Tholonet, near Aix-en-Provence, where the landscape and the forces of nature became new subjects of exploration. The three works presented here, created between 1946 and 1975, bear witness to his enduring fascination with ancient myths, metamorphoses, and hybrid figures. From “At the Top of the Pyramid” to “Faun Playing the Violin,” and on to “Apuleius’s Golden Ass,” Masson conjures a world populated by fantastical creatures and references to Greco-Roman antiquity. These subjects allow him to explore the boundaries between humans, animals, and the natural world, within a conception of life characterized by perpetual transformation. His postwar work is also distinguished by a stylistic evolution marked by great gestural freedom. Building on his surrealist and automatist experiences, while also drawing inspiration from American Abstract Expressionism and Eastern philosophies, Masson developed a more fragmented, calligraphic, and dynamic style of painting. Forms seem to dissolve and reform in a continuous movement, while line and color contribute to a genuine energy. This formal freedom never excludes cultural and literary references. A notable example is “Apuleius’s Golden Ass,” which alludes to the famous ancient tale from Apuleius’s *Metamorphoses*, in which the character Lucius is transformed into a donkey. Through these references, Masson pursues a deeply personal reflection on desire, instincts, and the metamorphoses of the world. These three works thus offer a glimpse into the richness of André Masson’s imagination and his ability to create a dialogue between ancient heritage and pictorial modernity. They illustrate the originality of an artist for whom myth remained, right up until the final decades of his creative career, an inexhaustible source of invention and aesthetic renewal.