Andre Masson

Home > ... > Literature and the Arts > Art and Architecture > European Art, 1600 to the Present: Biographies > ...

André Masson

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition | 2008 | The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright 2008 Columbia University Press. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

André Masson , 1896-1987, French painter and graphic artist. An exponent of surrealism until 1928, Masson developed "automatic writing" —spontaneous linear expressions of his personal mythology. After World War II he painted superb landscapes in Aix-en-Provence. His Meditation on an Oak Leaf and other works are in the Museum of Modern Art, New York City.

Hide all research tools
Print this article Print all entries for this topic Cite this article Link to this article
Link to this article

CloseClose

Create a link to this page

Copy and paste this link tag into your Web page or blog:

<a href="http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/.aspx#1E1-Masson-A" title="Facts and information about Andre Masson">Andre Masson</a>

Add this article to Del.icio.usBookmark this article on DiigoShare this article on FacebookSubmit this article to RedditGive this article a thumbs-up on StumbleUpon
Show all research tools

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

  • MLA
  • Chicago
  • APA

"André Masson." The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. 15 Nov. 2009 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

"André Masson." The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. (November 15, 2009). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Masson-A.html

"André Masson." The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Retrieved November 15, 2009 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Masson-A.html

Learn more about citation styles

Masson, André

The Oxford Dictionary of Art | 2004 | | © The Oxford Dictionary of Art 2004, originally published by Oxford University Press 2004. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Masson, André (b Balagny, 4 Jan. 1896; d Paris, 28 Oct. 1987). French painter, printmaker, sculptor, stage designer, and writer, one of the major figures of Surrealism. During the First World War he was seriously wounded and deeply scarred emotionally. His pessimism was accompanied by a profound and troubled curiosity about the nature and destiny of man and an obscure belief in the mysterious unity of the universe; he devoted the whole of his artistic activity to penetrating and expressing this belief. In the early 1920s he was influenced by Cubism, but in 1924 he joined the Surrealist movement and remained a member until 1929, when he left in protest against Breton's authoritarian leadership. His work belonged to the spontaneous, expressive, semi-abstract variety of Surrealism, and included experiments with automatic drawings (see automatism), chance effects, and unusual materials (he sometimes incorporated sand in his paintings). Themes of metamorphosis, violence, psychic pain, and eroticism dominated his work. In 1934–6 he lived in Spain until the Civil War drove him back to France and in 1941–5 he took refuge from the Second World War in the USA. There his work formed a link between Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism. In 1945 he returned to France and two years later settled at Aix-en-Provence, where he concentrated on landscape painting, achieving something of the spiritual rapport with nature seen in some Chinese paintings.

Hide all research tools
Print this article Print all entries for this topic Cite this article Link to this article
Link to this article

CloseClose

Create a link to this page

Copy and paste this link tag into your Web page or blog:

<a href="http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/.aspx#1O2-MassonAndr" title="Facts and information about Andre Masson">Andre Masson</a>

Add this article to Del.icio.usBookmark this article on DiigoShare this article on FacebookSubmit this article to RedditGive this article a thumbs-up on StumbleUpon
Show all research tools

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

  • MLA
  • Chicago
  • APA

IAN CHILVERS. "Masson, André." The Oxford Dictionary of Art. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 15 Nov. 2009 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

IAN CHILVERS. "Masson, André." The Oxford Dictionary of Art. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (November 15, 2009). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O2-MassonAndr.html

IAN CHILVERS. "Masson, André." The Oxford Dictionary of Art. 2004. Retrieved November 15, 2009 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O2-MassonAndr.html

Learn more about citation styles

Free newspaper and magazine articles

Free Article Andre Masson at Zabriskie.(New York, New York)(Review of Exhibitions)(Brief Article)
Magazine article from: Art in America; 4/1/1996
Free Article Masson: The Face of Violence.
Magazine article from: Art in America; 7/1/2000
Free Article "Undercover Surrealism": Hayward Gallery, London.
Magazine article from: Artforum International; 10/1/2006

Facts and information from other sites

Related topics

  Edit this list

Related articles from newspapers, magazines, and more

Andre Masson at Zabriskie.(New York, New York)(Review of Exhibitions)(Brief Article)
Magazine article from: Art in America; 4/1/1996; ; 700+ words ; Fleeing Vichy France, Surrealist painter Andre Masson arrived in New York in May 1941, where he was welcomed...where he "matured." This excellent exhibition, "Andre Masson in America (1941-45)," deftly surveyed his wartime...
ANDRE MASSON, PIONEER SURREALIST
Newspaper article from: The Boston Globe; 10/29/1987; ; 494 words ; PARIS - Artist Andre Masson, one of the last great...phantasmagoric sand paintings. Mr. Masson was among the diverse group...Apollinaire, it was defined in Andre Breton's Surrealist Manifesto...anything." Among Mr. Masson's best known paintings...
Andre Masson. Exquisite Corpse.(GalleryCard: Transformation)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
Magazine article from: School Arts; 1/1/2006; ; 593 words ; Andre Masson. Exquisite Corpse, March 18, 1927, Graphite and colored crayons on...human parts. In this drawing by the Surrealists Morise, Max Ernst, and Masson, Ernst converted the voids under the figure's arms into birds. Activity...
Masson: The Face of Violence.
Magazine article from: Art in America; 7/1/2000; ; 700+ words ; ...strife of Europe in the 1930s, Andre Masson transformed his art and redirected...Surrealism. With these words, Andre Masson dismissed the Surrealism of the...interesting exhibitions like "Andre Masson: the 1930s." The show was the...
MASSON COLLECTOR GOTLIEB IS AN AMBASSADOR OF ART
Newspaper article from: The Boston Globe; 1/30/2002; ; 700+ words ; ...started buying the work of Andre Masson more than a quarter...make a strong case for Masson's place as a key figure...with the movement that Andre Breton founded in 1924...of the works that make Masson hard to pin down. Gotlieb...
Diego takes centre stage after a brief period on the wings; Conductor Diego Masson tells why heDiego Masson is one of Europed rather conduct Boulez than Beethoven.(News)
Newspaper article from: The Birmingham Post (England); 11/1/2007; 700+ words ; ...house football team. Born in 1935, Diego Masson is the son of the French surrealist painter Andre Masson, and his earliest memories include being...The family settled in Connecticut, and Andre Masson's automatic drawings are cited as a seminal...
Obituary: Andre Fougeron
Newspaper article from: The Independent - London; 9/18/1998; ; 700+ words ; ...very young art historian, I met Andre Fougeron in 1979 while involved with...work at this time was influenced by Andre Masson, German expressionism and Picasso...the current Unesco exhibition: "Andre Fougeron, in each one of your drawings...
Gide, Andre, and Eugene Rouart. Correspondance I 1893-1901.(Book review)
Magazine article from: Nineteenth-Century French Studies; 3/22/2008; ; 700+ words ; ...ISBN 2-7297-0795-6 Gide, Andre, and Eugene Rouart. Correspondance...ISBN 2-7297-0796-4 Gide, Andre, and Maurice Denis. Correspondance 1892-1945. Ed. Pierre Masson and Carina Schafer, with the...the study of three figures--Andre Gide, his writer friend Eugene...
Surrealism and the Spanish Civil War.(Book review)
Magazine article from: Canadian Journal of History; 3/22/2007; ; 700+ words ; ...Joan Miro, Salvador Dali, Joss Caballero, Andre Masson, and Pablo Picasso. Of these, Masson and Dali were closely associated with the surrealist...discussions of the work of Dali, Caballero, Masson, and finally Picasso, as the book returns...
"Undercover Surrealism": Hayward Gallery, London.
Magazine article from: Artforum International; 10/1/2006; ; 700+ words ; ...1928; and even a drawing made by Andre Masson's nine-year-old daughter...Salvador Dali and Crime," "Andre Masson and Sacrifice," and "Joan Miro...away from the Surrealist gospel of Andre Breton. The show made this point...

Pictures from Google Image Search

Click to see an enlarged picture
Click to see an enlarged picture
Click to see an enlarged picture

For students and teachers!

Encyclopedia.com provides students and teachers facts, information, and biographies from verified, citable sources, including:

Encyclopedia.com provides students and teachers facts, information, and biographies from verified, citable sources, including:

Popular on Newser:

Nation's First Marijuana Cafe Opens in Portland

(11/14/2009 6:19:02 PM)

Obama Bows to Emperor

(11/14/2009 4:03:04 PM)

OMG, Enuf With Ur Duckface

(11/15/2009 7:50:02 PM)

Obama's Ego Needs Its Own ZIP Code

(11/14/2009 6:01:02 PM)

Craziest Rap Concert Demands

(11/15/2009 5:30:03 PM)