French, 1896-1987
Signed lower left. Signed again, dated and inscribed ‘Andrè Masson Fragment des Jardins de Tantale PASTEL 1959’ (on reverse). Inscribed ‘Fragment des Jardins de Tantale’ (on the stretcher)
Provenance:
Galerie Louise Leiris, Paris (Photo no. 50855)
Acquired by the father of the present owner in the 1960s
André-Aimé-René Masson was born in Balagny-sur-Thérain, near Senlis in Picardy, but was brought up in Belgium. He studied art in Brussels and Paris. He fought for France in World War I and was seriously injured.
Masson’s early works display an interest in cubism. He later became associated with surrealism, and he was one of the most enthusiastic employers of automatic drawing, making a number of automatic works in pen and ink. Masson would often force himself to work under strict conditions, for example, after long periods of time without food or sleep, or under the influence of drugs. He believed forcing himself into a reduced state of consciousness would help his art be free from rational control, and hence get closer to the workings of his subconscious mind
André Masson drew the cover of the first issue of Georges Bataille's review, Acéphale, in 1936, and participated in all its issues until 1939.
Under the German occupation of France during World War II, his work was condemned by the Nazis as degenerate. With the assistance of Varian Fry in Marseille, Masson escaped the Nazi regime on a ship to the French island of Martinique from where he went on to the United States. Upon arrival in New York City, U.S. customs officials inspecting Masson's luggage found a cache of his erotic drawings. Denouncing them as pornographic, they ripped them up before the artist's eyes.
Living in New Preston, Connecticut his work became an important influence on American abstract expressionists. Following the war, he returned to France and settled in Aix-en-Provence where he painted a number of landscapes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9_Masson
