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André Masson

André Masson (1896–1987) )The work of André Masson is inseparable from the surreal adventure, within which he occupies a singular and founding place. Without pretending to trace here the whole relationship — It is worth recalling that Masson, throughout his career, stopped expanding the stakes by means of an autonomous pictorial and theoretical research, nourished by poetry, mythology, philosophy and constant reflection on gesture and matter.At the end of 1941, a refugee in Marseilles, Masson participated with André Breton and his relatives in the creation of the Marseille Card Game, before leaving France for New York. Located in New Preston, close to Calder and Tanguy, it goes through a period of great creative intensity marked by numerous exhibitions. His return to France in October 1945 was followed quickly by important presentations in Paris, notably at the galleries Louise Leiris and Simon.In parallel to his pictorial work, Masson developed a wealth of collaboration with writers and poets. He illustrates their texts, designs sets and costumes for theatre and opera, and engages very early on in major stage projects, notably with the company Renaud-Barrault.His interest in light, matter and pictorial phenomenon is then affirmed in works where imaginary landscapes, mythological scenes and graphic research are associated. Housed at Tholonet, near Aix-en-Provence, from 1946 to 1948, Masson explores the themes of the Aix campaign while approaching