André Masson French, 1896-1987
Métamorphose, 1929
Oil on canvas
60 x 73 cm
Signed on the back.
Copyright The Artist
Metamorphosis is an essential notion for André Masson, whose conception of the world is one of continuous flux. “There is no completed world,” as the artist himself admits. The artist...
Metamorphosis is an essential notion for André Masson, whose conception of the world is one of continuous flux. “There is no completed world,” as the artist himself admits. The artist began a new way of working at this time, punctuated by fine lines that travel across the pictorial surface like Ariadne's thread, and a few “fixed points in a fluid world”, to borrow a phrase from Michel Leiris, a friend of the artist.
In Métamorphoses, from a leaf start - or end - lines punctuated by a few spots of color and bird tracks. The surface is punctuated by large flat areas of yellow and green - a natural world in constant transformation. A few touches of red, like drops of blood, are a reminder of the world's inherent violence.
In Métamorphoses, from a leaf start - or end - lines punctuated by a few spots of color and bird tracks. The surface is punctuated by large flat areas of yellow and green - a natural world in constant transformation. A few touches of red, like drops of blood, are a reminder of the world's inherent violence.
Provenance
Galerie Simon, Paris, FranceGalerie Vavin-Raspail, Paris
Buchholz Gallery (Curt Valentin), New York
Saidenberg Gallery, New York
Blue Moon Gallery - Lerner-Heller Gallery, New York
Collection privée, Monaco
Expositions
André Masson - Œuvres de 1924 à 1929, 8 - 20 avril 1929, catalogue n° 27.André Masson : Recent Work and earlier Paintings, Curt Valentin Gallery, New York, 7 avril - 2 mai 1953, catalogue n° 36, ill. noir et blanc.
André Masson - Retrospective Exhibition, Marlborough Fine Art, Londres, octobre - novembre 1958, catalogue n° 6.
André Masson - Retrospective Exhibition, Saidenberg Gallery, New York, 14 février - 25 mars 1961, catalogue n° 7.
André Masson, Akademie der Kunst, Berlin, 3 - 24 mai 1964, catalogue n° 16, ill. noir et blanc ; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, 1er juin - 19 juillet 1964.
André Masson : 1922 - 1966, Musée de Lyon, mai 1967, catalogue n° 9, fig. 4, ill. noir et blanc.
André Masson, Galleria Schwarz, Milan, 4 juin - 30 septembre 1970, catalogue n° 1, p. 3, ill. couleur.
André Masson, du Cubisme au Surréalisme, Isidore Ducasse Fine Arts, New York, mars avril 1993, catalogue p. 7, ill. couleur.
Surrealism : Two Private Eyes, The Nesuhi Ertegun and Daniel Filipacchi Collections, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 4 juin - 12 septembre 1999, catalogue n° 173. Sous le signe de Bataille. Masson, Fautrier, Bellmer, Musée Zervos, Vézelay, 27 juin - 15 novembre 2012, reproduit page 2.
André Masson: Il n’y a pas de monde achevé, Centre Pompidou-Metz, 30 mars - 2 septembre 2023, (rétrospective), ill. p 96.
Catalogues
G. Masson, M. Masson et C. Loewer, André Masson. Catalogue raisonné de l'œuvre peint, Tome 1 (1919-1941), Volume I (1919-1929), Editions ArtAcatos, Vaumarcus, Suisse, 2010, n° 1928*15, repr. p. 406-407.Join our mailing list
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