Masson Andre

He first began to study art at the age of eleven, at the Royal Academy of fine Arts and the Ecole des Arts Decoratifs in Brussels while at the same time working as an apprentice designer. He settled in Paris and there studied the fresco technique. Winning a scholarship, he took a trip to Italy.

He was badly wounded World War I. His experiences on the front, his injury and his recuperation in military hospitals had a profound effect on him. His work would be deeply marked by the tragic nature of slaughter, death and violence.

His early work was influenced by Cubist and Cezanne, while those from the period (1922-1925) reveal the influence of Derain and Douanier Rousseau. He was friend with Max Jacob, Antonin Artaud and Juan Miro. His first exhibition was organized by Kahnweiller. Among the works exhibited, was the celebrated The Four Elements, which was purchased by Andre Breton, who immediately expressed interest in his painting. Masson became a member of the surrealist group and together with Miro experimented with automatic for a long period of time. In 1927 he experimented with mixing pigment with sand and feathers and then letting them fall on the surface of the painting which he had already spread with glue. The chance placement of the pigment gave rise to random spots.

In 1929 Breton expelled Masson from the surrealist group. From 1930 to 1937 he lived in the south of France and in Spain. During that period he drew his subject matter from Spanish literature, the Spanish Civil War and Greek mythology. In 1936 he worked fro the first time with Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes.

In 1937 he returned to Paris and was reconciled with Breton. In his work one observes a return to figurative depiction and the creation of large illusory spaces. Later, the subjects of his work would again revolve around Greek mythology and Freudian theory.

During World War II he immigrated to America from which he returned in 1946. During his residence there he had an influence on young American painters, Pollock, first and foremost, but also on Action Painting as a whole. Today, the contribution of Masson to American Abstract Expressionism is considered an important one. His constant trips to Italy inspired works based on the Italian landscape.

After the war he became intensely interested in Zen Buddhism and Impressionism. The combination of these two utterly different perceptions of the world resulted in the abolition of chiaroscuro and the creation of a unique gestural calligraphy. He was particularly involved with book illustration and print-making.

In 1965 Andre Malraux invited him to decorate the ceiling of the Odeon Theater in Paris.

His final series of works had change and transformation as their subject. The importance of his work rests primarily in its view of art as a poetic and philosophical quest.