Historical Dictionary of Contemporary Art by Ann Lee Morgan

Author:Ann Lee Morgan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: undefined
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Published: 2012-06-13T16:00:00+00:00

MASON, EMILY (1932–)

See ; .

MASSON, ANDRÉ (1896–1987)

A leading surrealist, André Masson numbered among the most enthusiastic practitioners of automatism, even inducing hallucinatory states in order to suppress rational consciousness. His completely abstract, automatic pen-and-ink drawings helped to spark the genesis of abstract expressionism as he rode out World War II in the United States. Born in France but raised in Belgium, Masson trained in Brussels and Paris. Wounded while serving in the French military during World War I, he subsequently saw human fate to be one of pain and dissonance. Through the early 1920s, his painting fell within the orbit of cubism, to which he contributed symbolic elements that lend an unusually somber tone to his work. As a surrealist, in addition to pursuing the abstract drawing technique, Masson also experimented creatively with chance effects. For Battle of Fishes (1926; New York, Museum of Modern Art), he poured glue onto a canvas, then dusted it with sand. The resulting textured passages stimulated other representational and abstract markings to create an evocative image that defies logical analysis. While living in the South of France and in Spain from 1930 until 1937, he addressed literary and mythological themes, as well as the civil war in Spain. Most of his work from this time took a more structured approach and often included erotic elements. For a short period toward the end of the 1930s, he adopted a veristic technique, related to Salvador Dalí’s example, to express themes of violence and despair. In 1941, he escaped World War II via Martinique to the United States, where he resided in New Preston, Connecticut. Upon returning at the end of the conflict, he made his home in the South of France. There he absorbed a range of new interests, from Zen philosophy to impressionist painting. Often combining his abstract and figurative interests, his late paintings and drawings vibrate with an energetic, fast-moving touch. See also .

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