1896, Balagny-sur-Thérain, France – 1987 – Paris, France
A Dream of a Future Desert, 1942
Etching and drypoint on paper, 69 х 90 cm
Edition: a.p.; inscription: b.l.: epreuve d’artiste; b.r.: Andre Masson
Acquisition: Gift
Reference: 00608
Biography
Masson was born in Balagny-sur-Thérain, Oise, but when he was eight his father’s work took the family first briefly to Lille and then to Brussels. He began his study of art at the age of eleven at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, under the guidance of Constant Montald, and later he studied in Paris. He fought for France during World War I and was seriously injured. Masson shared a Paris studio with Joan Miró.
His 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 experimented with altered states of consciousness with artists such as Antonin Artaud, Michel Leiris, Joan Miró, Georges Bataille, Jean Dubuffet and Georges Malkine, who were neighbors of his studio in Paris.
The biography is from Wikipedia under the Attribution-ShareAlike Creative Commons License
Full entry: wikipedia.org/wiki/Andre_Masson
