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André Masson Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

French, 1896-1987

Born in 1896 in Balagny-sur- Thérain, a small village in France, André Masson spent most of his youth in Brussels, Belgium working as a pattern maker at an embroidery atelier. Masson began his schooling in 1907 at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels. In 1912, he relocated to Paris, where he attended the École des Beaux-Arts. In 1914, the artist was called to military duty for the First World War, where he was severely wounded and sent back to Paris. Much of Masson’s work is influenced by this trauma; his drawings and paintings executed during the 1920s represent battle scenes, blood, death, birds and fish. The strange realities of trench warfare and the immediate contiguity of life and death are drawn upon, and his imagery suggests a confrontation of life at an abnormal level of experience. His signature style deals with violence, evident in terrifying, fragmented figures, which reflect the horrors of the Spanish Civil War and WWII, as well as his troubled psyche in the aftermath of his service in WWI.

After WWI, Masson moved to the South of France, where he met Juan Gris, André Derain, Joan Miró and André Breton. Breton championed the Surrealist Manifesto and Masson joined in the group exhibition of the first Surrealists. An iconoclast, whose abrupt stylistic transitions defy classification, Masson also explored automatism (automatic drawing), a process that sought to express the creative force of the unconscious. These automatic drawings had no preconceived subject or composition. Like a medium channeling a spirit, Masson let his pen travel rapidly across the paper without conscious control. He soon found hints of images, fragmented bodies and objects, emerging from the abstract, lacelike web of pen marks. At times, Masson elaborated on these with conscious changes or additions, but he left the traces of the rapidly drawn ink mostly intact. Masson’s oeuvre explores several techniques of painting, drawing and sculpture and displays rich, colorful abstraction as well as monochrome imagery and automatic linear representations. An early Surrealist and student of Cubism, Masson went on to inspire the New York Abstract Expressionists. Masson developed a technique of automatic painting that retained the element of chance; he dripped glue onto paper to form drawings and then covered it with sand. These ‘sand paintings’ are unquestionably his most iconic style.

When Masson emigrated to the U.S. in 1939, he strongly influenced several American painters with this technique, the most evident example being Jackson Pollack. After his time in America, he returned to Europe and while living in Spain during the mid-1930s, he became enraptured with Spanish themes—bullfights, matadors and Spanish mythology. Masson finally settled down in France (Aix-en-Provence), where he took up a late interest in impressionistic landscape, but he ultimately came to a place where he painted nearly exclusively abstract images. Masson dedicated his life as an artist to encouraging the non-rational purpose in art, to the direct transference of subconscious thought and to the primal forces of conflicts that he experienced in the trenches of World War One. Masson sought to convey in his work a deeper reality of man’s behavior, his own complex personal imagery, and his belief that painting is not a matter of developing style but a part of life itself.

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Artist: André Masson
"Le combat des poissons "Pencil study with annotations , cm. 30 x 20 1940 ca
By André Masson
Located in Torino, IT
André Masson ( 1896-1987) Pencil study with annotations on the right side, acquired by the previous owner from Luis Masson son of Andrè Masson
Category

1940s Surrealist André Masson Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Pencil

Venice : The Basin of San Marco with Gondola - Original Handsigned Drawing
By André Masson
Located in Paris, IDF
André Masson The Basin of San Marco, Venice Original pastel drawing Handsigned in pencil On vellum, 53 x 37,5 cm (c. 20,8 x 14,7 inch) PROVENANCE : Collection of Roger Passeron, fr...
Category

1950s Modern André Masson Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Oil Pastel

Surrealistic flower - Original Colour Pencil Drawing
By André Masson
Located in Paris, IDF
André Masson (1896-1987) Surrealistic flower Original colour pencil drawing Signed with the artist's stamp on the back (see photo) On 30.5 x 29 cm tracing paper (11.8 x 11.4 inche...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern André Masson Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Pencil, Carbon Pencil

Abduction
By André Masson
Located in Paris, FR
Pastel (modern), 1932 62.00 cm. x 46.50 cm. 24.41 in. x 18.31 in. (paper) Charcoal drawing enhanced with pastel A charcoal drawing on one of art history's major themes. Here, the...
Category

1930s Modern André Masson Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Ink

Venice in Sunset - Original Handsigned Pastel Drawing
By André Masson
Located in Paris, IDF
André Masson Venice in Sunset Original pastel drawing Handsigned in pastel with his monogram On paper, 39 x 33,5 cm (c. 15,3 x 13,1 inch) Excellent condition
Category

1950s Modern André Masson Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Oil Pastel

Monument
By André Masson
Located in Paris, FR
Ink , 1960 Handsigned by the artist in pencil 30.00 cm. x 24.00 cm. 11.81 in. x 9.45 in. (paper) A drawing in Indian ink and wash by the French artist singled out for his architec...
Category

1960s Abstract André Masson Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Ink

1933 drawing by French artist Andre Masson 'Le Cavalier Amoureux'
By André Masson
Located in Petworth, West Sussex
Andre Masson (French, 1896 – 1987) Le Cavalier Amoureux Pastel on paper Signed and dated ‘Andre Masson, 1933’ 17.1/2 x 23.3/8 in. (44.5 x 59.2 cm.) Frame measurements: 80 x 95cm. Pr...
Category

20th Century Abstract André Masson Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Pastel

L'enigme
By André Masson
Located in LE HAVRE, FR
André MASSON (1896-1987) The enigma, 1975 ink drawing Dimensions: 47.8 x 35cm Signed lower right Provenance: Louise Leiris Gallery, Paris Paper in perfect condition. FREE period ...
Category

1970s Abstract Expressionist André Masson Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Ink

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Previously Available Items
Samson and Dalila
By André Masson
Located in Paris, FR
Drawing, 1967 Handsigned by the artist in pencil Ink drawing on J. Perrigot Arches Special MBM paper dated on the back The French artist materializes here the betrayal of Samson b...
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1960s Abstract André Masson Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

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Ink

Samson and Dalila
Samson and Dalila
H 25.79 in W 19.69 in
The Statue of Colleoni, Venice, 1958 - Original Handsigned Watercolor Painting
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André Masson The Statue of Colleoni, Venice, 1958 Original ink and watercolor painting Handsigned in ink On paper, 44 x 26 cm (c. 17,3 x 10,2 inch) Very good condition, small manip...
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1950s Modern André Masson Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

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Loving embrace - Original Pencil Drawing
By André Masson
Located in Paris, IDF
André Masson (1896-1987) Loving embrace Original pencil drawing Signed with the artist's stamp on the back (see photo) On 37 x 27 cm tracing ...
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Mid-20th Century Modern André Masson Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

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Surrealist artist Andre Masson's 'Self portrait', 1944-45
By André Masson
Located in Petworth, West Sussex
Andre Masson (French, 1896 – 1987) Le Peintre et la chrysalide (Self portrait), 1944-1945 Ink on paper Signed Andre Masson (lower edge), further inscribed ‘Auto portrait aux herbes’ (on the reverse 6.1/4 x 8 in. (16 x 20 cm.) This work comes with a certificate from Comite Andre Masson #3068 Provenance: Collection Lily Masson (1920 – 2019), daughter of the artist André Masson was a French artist whose work has been cited as the bridge between Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism. He was a noted proponent of automatic art...
Category

Mid-20th Century Surrealist André Masson Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Ink

Tiger Lily
By André Masson
Located in Wiscasset, ME
Born in Balagny-sur-Thérain, France in 1896, French artist André Masson began his studies at the age of eleven at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts with Constant Montald in Brussels...
Category

1930s Modern André Masson Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Graphite

Tiger Lily
Tiger Lily
H 11.63 in W 8.63 in

André Masson drawings and watercolor paintings for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic André Masson drawings and watercolor paintings available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by André Masson in ink, paper, crayon and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 20th century and is mostly associated with the modern style. Not every interior allows for large André Masson drawings and watercolor paintings, so small editions measuring 10 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Emil Bisttram, Dorothy Dehner, and William Jacobs. André Masson drawings and watercolor paintings prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $863 and tops out at $18,356, while the average work can sell for $5,200.

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