1978 Andre Masson Signed French Aquatint Etching. Printed in France on thick matte paper. Artist signed and part of limited series, 96/120. From the portfolio 'L’Odyssée' published in 1978. Athena is one of twelve plates from the 'L’Odyssée' series published by UNESCO World Heritage for a project to save the Acropolis. Etchings from this series can be found online for as high as $2,500-$5,500. Original paintings by the artist have realised over $2 million at auction.
Size: 19.75”W x 25.6”H.
Condition: Excellent condition with some faint age spots on the paper but barely visible.
About the Artist - André Masson
André Masson, painter, sculptor, illustrator, designer, and writer, was born 4 January 1896 in Balagny-sur-Thérain in northern France. He spent most of his youth in Belgium and, at eleven years old, he enrolled in the Académie royale des beaux-arts and the École des arts décoratifs in Brussels. At age sixteen, Masson was awarded the Grand Prix de l'Académie for painting.
Masson moved to Paris in 1912 to study at the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts. While in Paris, he became interested in mythological-themed paintings of Nicolas Poussin, subjects that he would later treat in his own work. In 1915 he joined the French infantry and fought in the battles of the Somme. He was seriously wounded during a battle in 1917 and spent months in the hospital recovering physically and psychologically. The war influenced Masson’s art and he later wrote, “The field of battle made a human being of me. It literally threw me into the humus humain.”
In 1919, he moved to the south of France for a few years before returning to Paris. There he participated in the Surrealist movement between 1924 and 1929 and became a leading practitioner of automatism. Under the German occupation of France during World War II, Masson’s work was declared degenerate. He fled France eventually taking refuge in United States, first living in New York before moving to rural Connecticut in 1941. It was during this time that he worked at Stanley William Hayter’s experimental workshop Atelier 17 at the New School in New York.
Masson returned to France in 1945 and settled in Aix-en-Provence in 1947. He was awarded the Grand Prix National des Art in 1954 and, in 1958, the Venice Biennale dedicated an entire room to his work. As early as 1933 he produced designs for the stage and, in 1965, he was invited to paint the ceiling of the Théâtre de l'Odéon in Paris.
Andre Masson died on 28 October 28 1987 in Aix-en-Provence, France.
1978 Andre Masson Signed French Aquatint Etching
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