Amours Légendaires. Legendary Loves. by Andre Masson, 1896-1987

Andre Masson, 1896-1987
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Amours Légendaires. Legendary Loves.

Original etching with aquatint in black ink. 1959. Signed in pencil with the initials A.M. Inscribed by Masson as 'Bon à tirer' (the guide proof for the edition). Annotated by Masson: 35 japon ancien (35 impressions on old japan paper). Issued edition of 30 impressions plus 5 proofs. Probably printed at Atelier Lacourière. Issued by Galerie Lieris, Paris 1959. Rare.

Extremely fine impression with very strong and varied surface tones. On pale cream wove Arches-type paper. Full margins as printed. Sheet: 15 x 11 ins. Plate: 11 3/4 x 9 3/4ins (298x248mm).

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The unique ?bon à tirer? proof for the edition, signed with initials and annotated with the edition details.

Masson was one of the earliest members of the Surrealist group of artists gathered around André Breton in Paris in the mid 1920?s. Masson had fought in the trenches in the First War and been badly wounded; the trauma of his experiences in the fighting, the effect that it had on his attitudes to reality and to the ?inner self?, had the most profound and lasting influence on his ideas about art. He sought to use the imagery of his drawing and painting to express the split between what the mind can experience within itself and what is registered or undergone by the outward senses of the body.

It was these ideas which led Masson, along with other Surrealist artists, to experiment with forms which derived from non-conscious control, as in ?automatic writing?. Graphic line became a key element, the patterns of the forms leading the eye into a type of hallucination. It was also this fascination with line which led him to start to use printmaking as a medium as early as the 1930?s. Etching, with its unique combination of linear stroke and texture became a real inspiration for his art. The patterns of the forms in the work above, the way that the eye is led around the sheet, the quality of tone and texture in the surface, and the dream like quality show Masson?s printmaking at its most inventive.