Wednesday, April 21, 2010

10.349 ANDRÉ MASSON

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  1. AUTOMATIC DRAWING(1924). FRENCH ARTIST. HE FOUGHT FOR FRANCE IN WORLD WAR I AND WAS SERIOUSLY INJURED. FROM CUBISM, LATER WITH SURREALISM, ONE OF THE MOST ENTHUSIASTIC EMPLOYERS OF AUTOMATIC DRAWING, MAKING A NUMBER OF AUTOMATIC WORKS IN PEN AND INK. MASSON WOULD OFTEN FORCE HIMSELF TO WORK UNDER STRICT CONDITIONS, FOR EXAMPLE, AFTER LONG PERIODS OF TIME WITHOUT FOOD OR SLEEP. HE BELIEVED FORCING HIMSELF INTO A REDUCED STATE OF CONSCIOUSNESS WOULD HELP HIS ART BE FREE FROM RATIONAL CONTROL, AND HENCE GET CLOSER TO THE WORKINGS OF HIS SUBCONSCIOUS MIND. MASSON ESCAPED THE NAZI REGIME ON A SHIP TO THE FRENCH ISLAND OF MARTINIQUE FROM WHERE HE WENT ON TO THE UNITED STATES. HIS WORK BECAME AN IMPORTANT INFLUENCE ON AMERICAN ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISTS, SUCH AS JACKSON POLLOCK.

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