| Title: |
The Torrent (Le Torrent) |
| Artist: |
Masson, Andre (Balagny, 1896 - Paris, 1988) |
| Date: |
1952 |
| Medium: |
Original Lithograph |
| Publisher: |
Verve, Paris |
| Printer: |
Fernand Mourlot, Paris |
| Note: |
Andre Masson: Together with Joan Miro and Max Ernst, Andre
Masson is recognized as one of the leading Surrealist artists of the twentieth
century. Apart from brief and uninspired classes at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts
in both Brussels and Paris, Andre Masson was largely self-taught. His career
was momentarily halted by the outbreak of World War One in which he served
as a soldier and was wounded. During his convalescence, however, he met
and became good friends with the painter, Chaim Soutine. After the war,
Andre Masson moved to Paris and was influenced first by Matisse and the
Fauves and then by Braque and the Cubists. Yet, as early as 1920, Andre Masson
was turning more and more to the both visionary and irrational elements
of contemporary art, known as Surrealism. And, although he never associated
himself directly with the Surrealist movement, Andre Masson became friends with
such leaders as Miro and Aragon. As well, the most influential of Surrealist
writers, Andre Breton, championed Masson's art. |
| |
Andre Masson's first lithographs were created in 1925 for the
book, Simulacre. From that point on lithography played a major
role in Masson's art, both in individually commissioned works (such as
this original example) and in his fine, illustrated books. |
| |
For Masson, color lithography was a perfect vehicle for
his artistic expression. As The Torrent (Le Torrent) clearly shows, color and
form envisioned through movement and spontaneity were among Andre Masson's most
gifted talents. |
| |
Escaping the Nazi occupation of the Second World War, Masson
lived in New York from 1941 to 1945. There he proved a major influence
upon many young American artists, such as Jackson Pollack, and also played
a role in establishing Stanley Hayter's famous Atelier 17. Masson returned
to Paris at the end of the war but his ties to contemporary American art
remained strong and during the final thirty years of his life he received
many important commissions from both France and the United States. |
| |
The Torrent (Le Torrent) was commissioned by the Paris publisher,
Verve, for their 1952 double number volume. Both sides of the sturdy,
wove paper were used for printing and therefore an original black and
white lithograph appears on the verso of this original colour lithograph.
On the verso of The Torrent (Le Torrent), Andre Masson created an untitled, landscape
lithograph which is obviously a related study to the color lithograph. |
| |
As The Torrent is a large, double page lithograph
it contains the vertical fold and slight pin prick holes for binding.
This original art has been matted on both sides in order to view the two
lithographs. With its fine colors and brilliant sense of movement, The
Torrent is surely one of Andre Masson's most important lithographs. |
| |
Verve: From 1937 to 1960 Verve was a leader
for promoting modern movements in art. Printed and published in Paris,
this periodical contained major articles on and by leading contemporary
artists. More importantly, each issue contained at least one original
print created specifically for the publication. |
| |
Some of the most sought after original lithographs of the
twentieth century appeared in 1952 double number (#27 & 28) of Verve.
These included Marc Chagall's complete Visions de Paris set, Andre
Masson's, The Torrent (Le Torrent), Henri Matisse's, The Sadness of the King,
Leger's, The Outing, Miro's, The Dog Barking at the Moon
and original lithographs in both colors and black and white by Georges
Braque, Henri Laurens, Alberto Giacometti, Francisco Bores and Marcel
Gromaire. Original works of art printed by Verve never appeared
in pencil signed and limited editions, but most were published in numbers
of two thousand five hundred or less. |
| Size: |
13 3/4 X 20 (Sizes in inches are approximate,
height preceding width of plate-mark or image.) |
| |
UnMatted |
| Buy Now |
Price: $495.00 US |
| Note: |
Image is Not Presently Available, Please Contact Us |
| Condition: |
Printed upon thick, wove paper and with full margins as
published in Paris for Verve in 1952. Containing the vertical fold
and very faint binding holes along the fold, as usual. Slight staining
exists on the verso black and white lithograph else a fine, full color
impression and in excellent condition throughout. This original lithograph
represents a most important example of the influential art of Andre Masson. |
| Important Information: |
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