André Masson
Martigues (Bouches-du-RhÎne) 1919 In early 1919, Masson met up with Loutreuil again in an abandoned cottage overlooking the Etang de Berre, near Martigues. Here he began once more to paint. Together, the two men visited the painter Pinchus KrémÚgne (1890-1981) and the sculptor Manolo (1872-1945) at Céret.
formed around Breton, until 1928 (and then again from 1936 to 1945).
Sanary-sur-Mer (Var) March 1926-March 1927 Masson left Paris in 1926 and settled at Sanary-sur-Mer, a seaside resort and fishing port near Toulon. Here he painted his first series of paintings using sand.
Céret (Pyrénées-Orientales) 1920
Paris (III) Spring 1927-1932
With Manoloâs help, Masson moved into a disused convent of the Capucine order in CĂ©ret. Here he met a pupil of KrĂ©mĂšgneâs, ChaĂŻm Soutine (1894-1943). Masson worked as a ceramist decorator for a company at Prades (60 km from CĂ©ret). He met Odette CabalĂ© (1899-1984) whom he married on 13 February 1920. On 3 November 1920, their only daughter, Lili, was born in Paris.
Paris (II) 1920-1931 Late in 1920, the Masson family moved into an apartment in the rue La Vieuville in Montmartre, before moving, during the winter of 1921-22, to 45 rue Blomet (15th arr.). The meetings of what was known as the ârue Blomet groupâ (which lasted until early in 1927) were attended, besides Georges Limbour (1900-1970), mainly by writers, including Ernest Hemingway, Roland Tual, Armand Salacrou, Antonin Artaud, Robert Desnos, Gertrude Stein and Michel Leiris. Leiris, Max Jacob and MirĂł, were among Massonâs closest friends and considered that they possessed a clear awareness of the inherent ambiguity of the human condition. The artist Elie Lascaux (1888-1969) introduced Masson to the art dealer Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler. Thanks to the contract which he signed with Kahnweiler in 1922, Masson was able to give up his work as a draftsman-decorator at the Lachenal pottery as well as his night job proof-reading at the Journal Officiel. From now on, he would be able to live from his painting. From then on, I steadily painted, drew and made prints (Masson). He exhibited at Kahnweilerâs successive galleries. After his first one man exhibition with Kahnweiler (Galerie Simon) in February-March 1924, he met AndrĂ© Breton (1896-1966), one of the founders of the Surrealist movement. Masson was a member of this movement,
Back in Paris, Masson moved into an apartment in the avenue de SĂ©gur (7th arr.) and, at the end of 1927, travelled to Germany and Holland. In 1928, Masson began to gradually distance himself from the Surrealists whose positions often seemed to him too politically extreme. In the second Surrealist manifesto, published in December 1928, Breton openly attacked Limbour and Masson and excluded them from the movement. At the end of 1928, AndrĂ© and Odette Masson divorced. Paule VĂ©zelay became Massonâs companion from 1929 to the end of 1932. In 1930, through the intermediary of the Japanese writer, Kino Matsuo, Masson began to develop an interest in Zen Buddhism. In December 1931, Masson severed the contract with Kahnweiler which they had signed in 1922; they did not resume lasting relations until September 1933. In the meantime, Masson worked with the Galerie Paul Rosenberg.
Saint-Jean-de-Grasse (Alpes-Maritimes) 1932-1933 In 1932, Masson moved to Saint-Jean-deGrasse where he lived in almost total isolation. Henri Matisse (1869-1954) and the English writer H. G. Wells (1866-1946) were the only people he frequented. He executed his first stage sets for the Ballets Russes in Monte-Carlo.
Paris (IV) Winter 1933-1934 Masson returned to Paris. He wrote for the Surrealist review Minotaure (whose title he had suggested) and also developed lasting contacts with several other publishers; his main friendships were formed in the Paris literary milieu. Masson met Rose MaklĂšs (1902-1986).
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Tossa de Mar (Catalonia) 1934-1936 In March 1934, Masson left for Spain with Rose MaklĂšs: Exile. For the second time, there is voluntary exile, he said. He was attracted by the cruel Spanish vision of the world (Masson). In June, the couple settled on the Costa Brava at Tossa de Mar and in December Masson and Rose MaklĂšs got married. In January 1935, they became lost walking on the Montserrat, where, in the middle of the winter, they spent a night in the open: anxiety between two abyss. The vertigo of height at the same time as the vertigo of depth [âŠ]. I thought that I was going mad. Then, in the morning, sublime, cosmic and religious [âŠ] like Moses awaiting the arrival of the Lord. (Masson). With Georges Bataille, Masson created the review AcĂ©phale. On 21 June 1935, the coupleâs first son, Diego, was born, followed, on 26 September 1936, by a second son Luis. In October 1936, Masson and his family returned to live in France, passing through Paris.
Lyons-la-ForĂȘt (Eure) End of December 1936-June 1940 In Normandy, near one of the finest beech groves in Europe, Masson began his second Surrealist period, at the same time resuming relations with AndrĂ© Breton. Masson once again began to read Goethe and Nietzsche, developing a particular interest for Heraclitus and Empedocles. Masson suggested creating the stage sets for Numance adapted from CervantĂšs, directed by Jean-Louis Barrault at the ThĂ©Ăątre Antoine in Paris. Masson attended the first night on 22 April 1937.
Freluc (Cantal) June-November 1940 The advance of the German army obliged Masson to leave Lyons-la-ForĂȘt. He stayed with Georges Bataille in a small hamlet overlooked by a fortress near Aurillac in Auvergne.
Marseilles November 1940-March 1941 In November, the Masson family moved into the ChĂąteau de Bel-Air at Montredon, just outside Marseilles, where a number of artists