André Masson

Galerie Simon, Paris
Galerie Louise Leiris, Paris
Sale : Francis Briest, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 26 March 1990, lot 56
Acquired at the above sale by the current owner

Basel, Kunsthalle, André Masson, Alberto Giacometti, 1950, no. 41 (dated 1939)
Paris, Musée National d'Art Moderne, André Masson, 1965, no. 33
Paris, Galerie H. Odermatt, André Masson, Oeuvres Maîtresses,  1990-91, no. 18 
Zaragoza, Museo Camon Aznar, André Masson en Espana 1933-1943, 1992-93, no. 12 (titled Allégorie)
Yokohama, Yokohama Museum of Art, Masson et Matta, Les deux univers, 1994, no. 18 
Bern, Kunstmuseum, Masson, Massaker, Metamorphosen, Mythologien, 1996, no. 105 
Saint Petersburg, Florida, Salvador Dalí Museum, André Masson : the 1930s, 1999-2000, no. 36
Madrid, Museo Nacional Centro de Arts Reina Sofía, André Masson, 2004, n.n. (dated 1939)
Andros, Museum of Contemporary Art, Basil and Elise Goulandris Foundation, André Masson and Ancient Greece, 2007, no. 46 

Otto Hahn, Masson, Paris, 1965, illustrated p. 46 
Dawn Ades, André Masson, Barcelone, 1994, no. 67, illustrated p. 127
Camille Morando, Peinture, Dessin, Sculpture et Littérature autour du Collège de Sociologie pendant l'entre-deux-guerres, Paris, 2000, no. 273, illustrated p. 1393
Martin Ries, "André Masson, Surrealism and his Discontents," Art Journal, vol. 61, no. 4, Winter 2002, illustrated p. 74 
Martin Ries, "L'Estasi del disagio," Arte dossier, vol. XVII, no. 176, March 2002, illustrated p. 6 
Guite Masson, Martin Masson & Catherine Loewer, André Masson, Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint, Paris, 2010, vol. II, no. 16, illustrated p. 347

The canvas is not lined. The colours are vibrant and the impasto intact with only one tiny spot of flaking in the yellow pigment. UV light reveals three very thin lines that fluoresce near the lower right corner. Otherwise this work is in very good condition.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The years preceding the Second World War heralded Masson’s Mythologiesseries, or the beginning of his ‘second Surrealist period’ (1937-1942). The various different themes chosen by the artist were a pretext for presenting a struggle between life and death, between creation and destruction. At the heart of these myths, two subjects occupied an essential position: Gradiva and Pygmalion.

Taken from Ovid’s Metamorphosis, the myth of Pygmalion recounts the story of the legendary king of Cyprus, a talented sculptor, who created a statue of such staggering beauty that he fell madly in love with it. Taking pity on him, Aphrodite breathed life into the statue (Galatea) in order that Pygmalion may marry her. Masson’s interpretation of this theme considerably departs from the original legend as told by Ovid. Profoundly affected by the horrors of the Spanish Civil War and the build-up to World War II, the painter whom Georges Limbour called the "the universal ripper", retranscribes these terrors into this work. Far from a tradition representation, Pygmalion appears here as a hybrid creature crossed between a man and chair while Galatea is depicted as a creature in the throes of metamorphosis, with gaping genitals and a tortured body, echoing a world in a state of convulsion. A veritable protest cry, Masson himself spoke of “paroxystic expressionism” when describing his work from this period: “My paintings attained a paroxysm so expressive that they surpassed the Surrealist norm fixated more on the marvellous than the horrible” (in Jean-Claude Clébert, Mythologie d'André Masson, Genève, 1971, p. 53). Here we are at the heart of Masson’s art that Sandy Kuthy described so eloquently: “two driving forces in human destiny face off with power and beauty in a fantastical display of colour and a superb whirlwind of lines and forms" (Sandor Kuthy, in Masson. Massacres, métamorphoses, mythologies, exhibition catalogue, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Berne, 1996, p. 91).