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"Coup de coeur" by André Masson
Vent d'Arles - Septembre 2004
"De l'écriture à la peinture" est une magnifique exposition. Elle se tient la Fondation Maeght à Saint-Paul-de Vence jusqu'au 14 novembre 2004. Son conservateur, Jean-Louis Prat a choisi d'y célébrer les grands livres illustrés du XXème siècle présents dans la bibliothèque d'Aimé Maeght. Sans surprise (car c'est leur place) mais avec une grande joie, j'y retrouvais plusieurs ouvrages publiés "Au Vent d'Arles", et donc à travers eux une amie qui créa et dirigea ces éditions. Pour camarades de vitrines, se trouvaient les ouvrages de PAB, ILIAZD, Tériade, Broder, Maeght, Vollard, Zervos, GLM, Cramer, Skira, Kahnweiler, et c'était bien ainsi. Son "Marteau sans Maître", illustré par Miro et sa "Maison sèche" par Wilfredo Lam, me rapprochaient des mille souvenirs de sa profonde amitié avec René Char.Cet "Ordre des Oiseaux" était si particulier : n'y avait-il pas l'arôme du café posé sur une grande table de bois et tout à côté le manuscrit émouvant de Saint John Perse sur un papier bleu lavande ? Fougueuse et intrépide, elle s'engage presque par jeu dans l'édition. Quelques livres pour apprendre, puis la rencontre de Picasso, lui permettent de collaborer avec les plus grands artistes du XXème siècles, qu'ils soient peintres ou poètes : Miro et Char donc, mais aussi Braque et Saint-John Perse, Bataille et Masson, Neruda et Picasso ; Alberti, Leiris, Dupin, Prévert, Queneau et tant d'autres encore collaborent aussi. Sans le savoir, et pour toujours, le regard des visiteurs portait la trace de son esprit d'aventure et de son extraordinaire appétit de vivre. Ce petit mot pour lui rendre hommage.
Discover our "Coups de coeur"Stamp by André Masson
The publication of a postal stamp is often a homage paid by a nation to a place, an event, a remarkable cause or a character which count. The painters and other artists do not escape from this rule. Some are however "forgotten" of postal art. Here, gathered below (French or foreign), emitted stamps (206) or simple studies of stamp (224) in homage to the artists represented on our website. The first French stamp was emitted in 1849, England preceded us by ten years. There is often a share of voyage in this small form of shape paper. The stamp circulates, sails, flies away, it makes dream, then dream a little. M.C.
When the stamp is really emitted, the artist name is preceded of an asterisk (*).
It is certain that we do not know each stamp emitted for such or such artist; do not hesitate with us to make known them!
Discover all the stampsArtist's dedicace
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A tribute to André Masson
André Masson s’éteint à Paris - au 26 rue de Sévigné - dans la nuit du 27 au 28 octobre 1987 ; il avait 91 ans. On le retrouva le matin, lampe de chevet allumée, ses mains aux doigts longs et fins tenant un livre ouvert posé sur sa poitrine. L’artiste repose au cimetière du Tolonet (Bouches-du-Rhone), petit village situé à quelques kilomètres d’Aix-en-Provence, au pied du Massif de la Sainte Victoire. En son hommage, à l’ombre d’un mur de pierres, d’un olivier et de grands cyprès, avec respect, nous déposons une pensée sur sa tombe.
"Les contradictions douloureuses sont parfois à la source de la plus grande des richesses." - André Masson
"Le Chemin des Dames. Je n'ai pas réussi à me désintoxiquer... le film est là... On m'enterrera avec…." - André Masson
"Ce qu’on peut toujours être, c’est du côté des opprimés, contre les oppresseurs où qu’ils soient, sous quelques masques qu’ils se cachent." - André Masson
"Chez Masson, l'élan et la vitesse baignent la forme." - Bernard Noel
"Le goût du risque est indéniablement le principal moteur susceptible de porter l’homme en avant dans la voie de l’inconnu. André Masson en est au plus haut point possédé." - André Breton
"L’image prend naissance dans l’océan émotionnel et à la fin s’y déverse ou comme il vous plaira : y retourne." - André Masson
Notes of biography
Seriously injured in Chemin des Dames in 1917, André Masson kept all his life an aggravated sensibility. Slaughters, blood, death, the extreme violence, the crudeness of bodies haunted him and his works.
He was born in 1896, studied to the Beaux-Arts of Brussels (1908-1912). Once in Paris (1922), he remained with difficulties in the city, met Max Jacob, Miro. He joined the surrealists in 1923, became friend with Artaud, Michel Leiris and Breton André. In 1929, he broke with Breton and got closer to Georges Bataille, published illustrations in reviews "Acéphale" and “La révolution surréaliste”. He left for Spain where he lived from 1934 till 1937, and joined up the war against Franco.
He contributed to the review "Minotaure” in1937 and after. Masson went into exile in the United States during the Second World War. There, he influenced durably Jackson Pollock with who he was bound.
His first exhibition was organized in 1928, it was the beginning of a very long list of exhibitions which lead his work to be hung on the whole world cymas-museums. After his death (1987), important retrospectives were organized (Albi, Aix-en-Provence, Paris, Kunstmuseum in Bern, etc.).
Masson’s first works were qualified as traditional paintings, then he was influenced by the fauvism and Cézanne. Later, the symbolism was determinedly present in his art. He created automatic drawings, surrealist canvases, produced a very important set of works on paper (etching, lithography, drawing), approached sculpture, illustrated poets.
Artists on display
The art and the artists display: proclamations, galleries, museums, personal or collective exhibitions. On walls or in shop windows, wise or rebels, posters warn, argue, show. Some were specially conceived by an artist for such or such event, other, colder, have only the letter.
Some were created in lithographic technic, most are simple offset reproductions. They are many those who like collecting these rectangles of paper, monochrome or in games of colours, in matt paper or brilliant, with many words or almost dumb.
We are happy also to be able to greet, by this pages, mythical galleries as those of Denise René, Louis Carré, Claude Bernard, Berheim Jeune, Maeght, Pierre Loeb and others.
Complete work(s)
Complete work(s)
Bibliographic track and more
To read about the artist :
- « Mythologie d'André Masson », J.-C. Clébert, Ed. Pierre Cailler, Genève, 1971
- « A. Masson et les puissances du signe », R. Passeron, Denoël, 1975
- « André Masson », W. Rubin, MNAM, Paris, 1977
- « André Masson », José Pierre, Jean-Clarence Lambert, Ed. Filipacchi, 1979
- « L’Aventure Surréaliste autour d’André Breton », José Pierre, Ed. Filipacchi, 1986
- « André Masson, les dessins automatiques », Florence de Mèredieu, Ed. Blusson, 1988
- « André Masson, la chair du regard », Bernard Noël, Gallimard, 1993
- « André Masson », Dona Ades, Albin Michel, 1994
- « André Masson : Le rebelle du surréalisme », Ed. Hermann, Paris, (1976), rééd. 1994
- « André Masson and the surrealist self », Clark V. Poling, Yale University Press, 2008
To read from the artist :
- « Le Vagabond du surréalisme », G. Brownstone, Ed. Saint-Germain-des-Près, 1975
- « Entretiens », G. Charbonnier, Ed. Julliard, 1958 / Ed. A. Dimanche, Marseille 1995
Website :
www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/massonMore :
Stamp by André Masson
The publication of a postal stamp is often a homage paid by a nation to a place, an event, a remarkable cause or a character which count. The painters and other artists do not escape from this rule. Some are however "forgotten" of postal art. Here, gathered below (French or foreign), emitted stamps (206) or simple studies of stamp (224) in homage to the artists represented on our website. The first French stamp was emitted in 1849, England preceded us by ten years. There is often a share of voyage in this small form of shape paper. The stamp circulates, sails, flies away, it makes dream, then dream a little. M.C.
When the stamp is really emitted, the artist name is preceded of an asterisk (*).
It is certain that we do not know each stamp emitted for such or such artist; do not hesitate with us to make known them!
Discover all the stampsArtist's dedicace