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Artworks
André Masson France, 1896-1987
Penthésilée, 1960Oil on canvas91.6 by 72.7 cm (36⅛ by 28⅝ in.)Signed 'Masson' (lower left); titled 'PENTHESILEE', dated '1960' and '18/5/60' and dedicated 'à Rose' (on the reverse)66591© 2021 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, ParisSOLDFurther images
Painted May 18, 1960, this work is accompanied by a photo-certificate of authenticity issued by the Comité Masson, dated October 13, 1992. Automatism, the central premise of André Breton’s first...Painted May 18, 1960, this work is accompanied by a photo-certificate of authenticity issued by the Comité Masson, dated October 13, 1992. Automatism, the central premise of André Breton’s first Surrealist Manifesto of 1924, was practiced as early as 1923 by the revolutionary Surrealist André Masson. His use of automatic drawing and painting strategies continued throughout his life. This later work Penthésilée, 1960, demonstrates contrasting tenants of spontaneity and control, freedom and order. Masson referred to the contrasting colors in a work such as Penthésilée as his ‘phosphorescent effect’ – where the pigment’s inherent minerality delivers the painting’s light source. Within this his calligraphic figuration emerges –
Penthésilée, a daughter of Ares, was a Thracian woman warrior who fought on the side of the Trojans. Works such as this left a large impact upon the Abstract Expressionists who often credit his interpretation of gesture and automatism as being a chief influence to their respective practices.Provenance
Le Comité Français pour la Sauvegarde de Venise (gift from the artist in 1972; sale: Galerie Cristofle Paris, June 19, 1972)
Private Collection, Paris (sale: Sotheby's, London, November 30, 1994, lot 245)
Private Collection
Exhibitions
Bern, Kunstmuseum Bern, Masson: Massaker, Metamorphosen, Mythologien, 1996, no. 114
Darmstadt, Institut Mathildenhöhe, Andre Masson : Bilder aus dem Labyrinth der Seele, 2003
Madrid, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, André Masson, 2004
Andros, Greece, Basil and Elise Goulandris Foundation, Museum of Contemporary Art, André Masson and Ancient Greece, 2007, no. 56, illustrated in color
