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Artworks
André Masson France, 1896-1987
Les Corbeaux, 1922Oil on canvas73 by 92 cm (28¾ by 36¼ in.)Signed 'André Masson' (lower left)38132X© 2021 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, ParisFurther images
Painted in 1922. André Masson’s Les Corbeaux is a mysterious landscape inspired by the forests in and around Ile-de-France and Brittany. During this pre-Surrealist period, Masson developed a complex attitude...Painted in 1922. André Masson’s Les Corbeaux is a mysterious landscape inspired by the forests in and around Ile-de-France and Brittany. During this pre-Surrealist period, Masson developed a complex attitude towards the marvels of the natural world, an attitude that came to define elements of his surrealist ethos. In Les Corbeaux, crows are seen flying above a dense, autumnal forest. In the winter of 1921, Masson moved to 45 rue Blomet, in Paris, with Joan Miró as an artist-neighbor and writers Antonin Artaud and Michel Leiris as close acquaintances. 1922 marked an important year for Masson. He signed a contract with the important dealer Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler - and Les Corbeaux was exhibited at Masson’s first solo show at Kahnweiler's Galerie Simon in 1924.Provenance
Galerie Simon, Paris
Armand Salacrou, Paris
Private Collection, Le Havre
Private Collection
Exhibitions
Paris, Galerie Simon, André Masson, 1924, no. 6
Paris, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Cinquante ans de Peinture Française dans les Collections particulières de Cézanne à Matisse, 1952
New York, The Museum of Modern Art; Houston, Museum of Fine Arts and Paris, Galeries Nationales d’Expositions du Grand Palais, André Masson, 1976-77, illustrated
Paris, Galerie Louise Leiris, André Masson - Peintures et oeuvres sur papier, 1919-1927, 1996, no. 7, illustrated in color p. 15
Metz, Musée de la Cour d’Or, André Masson, un combat, 1998-99, illustrated in color p. 124
New York, Blain | Di Donna, André Masson, The Mythology of Desire: Masterworks from 1925-1945, 2012, illustrated in color pp. 16-17Literature
M. Leiris and G. Limbour, André Masson et son univers, Geneva and Paris, 1947, illustrated p. 31 (titled Le vol de Corbeaux)
G. Pillement, 'Rétrospective André Masson,' Chefs d’oeuvre de l’art, No. 100, October 2, 1965, Paris, illustrated p. I (mentioned pp. I-IV)
J.-P. Clébert, Mythologie d’André Masson, Geneva, 1971, no. 2, illustrated (titled Le vol de Corbeaux)
Exhibition Catalogue: New York, The Museum of Modern Art; Houston, Museum of Fine Arts, and Paris, Galeries nationales d’expositions du Grand Palais, 1976-77, André Masson, illustrated p. 90F. Fielding Lewis Beatty, André Masson and the Imagery of Surrealism, Columbia University, New York, 1981, no. 49, illustrated p. 434
C. Morando, Peinture, Dessin, Sculpture et Littérature autour du Collège de Sociologie pendant l’entre-deux-guerres, Université Paris IV - La Sorbonne, Paris, 2000, no. 41, illustrated in color p. 1189
C. V. Poling, André Masson and the Surrealist Self, New Haven and London, 2008, no. 1, illustrated p. 112
G. Masson, M. Masson and C. Loewer, André Masson, Catalogue raisonné de l’oeuvre peint 1919-1941, vol. I, 1919-1929, Paris, 2010, no. 1922*9, illustrated in color p. 101
V. Oisteanu, 'ANDRÉ MASSON: The Mythology of Desire: Masterworks from 1925 to 1945,' The Brooklyn Rail, June 2012
