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Artist or Maker: ANDRÉ MASSON (1896-1987)
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Dimensions: 40 by 49 7/8in. 101.6 by 126.7cm
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Provenance: Property from the Collection of Dr. and Mrs. Jerome H.
Hirschmann
Galerie Simon, Paris (acquired from the artist)
Galerie Louise Leiris, Paris (acquired from the above and until at least
1958)
(possibly) William Rubin, New York
Richard Feigen Gallery,
Inc., Chicago
Acquired from the above circa 1960
Exhibited:
Paris, Galerie Simon, André
Masson, circa 1943, no. 19
New York, Whitney
Museum of American Art, European Artists in America, 1945,
no. 82 (as dating from 1944)
Paris, Galerie Louise Leiris, André
Masson: Rapportées d'Amérique, 1945, no. 6
Hanover,
Kestner-Gesellschaft, André Masson, 1955, no. 10
Venice,
XXIX Biennale Internazionale d'Arte, 1958, no. 29
Berlin, Akademie der Künste, Ausstellung in der Akademie der
Künste vom 3, 1964, no. 34
Paris, Musée National d'Art
Moderne, André Masson, 1965, no. 43
New York, The
Museum of Modern Art; Houston, Museum of Fine Arts; Paris, Grand
Palais,André Masson, 1976-77, no. 97
The Cleveland
Museum of Art, The Spirit of Surrealism\ 1979, no. 82
Chicago,
Museum of Contemporary Art, Dada and Surrealism in Chicago
Collections, 1985
Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Art,
Toward the Future: Contemporary Art in Context, 1990
Canberra, Australian National Gallery; South Brisbane, Queensland Art
Gallery, Surrealism, 1993 (not in exhibition catalogue)
Los
Angeles County Museum of Art; Montreal, Musée des Beaux Arts; Berlin,
Staatliche Museen, Exiles and Emigrés: The Flight of European Artists
from Hitler, 1997-98, no. 105
Paris, Centre Pompidou, La
Révolution Surréaliste, 2002, no. 78
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Notes: Literature:
William S. Rubin, Dada and Surrealist
Art, New York 1968, fig. 381, illustrated p. 379
William S.
Rubin and Carolyn Lanchner, André Masson, New York, 1976,
illustrated p. 59
Françoise Levaillant, André Masson, Milan,
1988, illustrated p. 24
Masson (exhibition catalogue),
Académie de France, Rome, illustrated pl. 138 (as dating from 1947)
Like many of his peers during the Second World War, André
Masson travelled by steam ship to New York in 1941. Upon his arrival he
settled in Connecticut, where his neighbors included Alexander Calder, Yves
Tanguy, and Arshile Gorky. That same year, Masson visited The
Metropolitan Museum of New York, the Museum of Natural History, and the
Museum of the American Indian, which exposed the artist to the artistic and
cultural heritage of the United States. The history and geography of New
England in particular prompted Masson to adopt a new visual language in his
art. His compositions from 1942 to 1945, inspired by the vegetation and
animal life around his new home, comprise what is known as his ``American
Period,'' and include the present work.
Masson's Pasiphaë from 1943 reflects his
interest in Freudian interpretations of classical mythology, which were popular
themes among the Surrealists. In this case, he has visually interpreted the
ancient Greek myth of Pasiphaë using Native American iconography:
''Impressed by the art and legends of American Indians,
Masson turned to totemic subjects and to Indian as well as classical
mythology... the myth of Pasiphaë, wife of Minos, the ruler of Crete, and her
passions for a great white bull fascinated many artists - most especially the
Surrealists, who saw its symbolic possibilities... the union between Pasiphaë
and the bull was interpreted by Surrealists as a rejoining of Man and
Nature'' (Edward B. Henning, reprinted in In the Minds Eye:
Dada and Surrealism, Chicago, 1985, p. 186).
The
Comité Masson has kindly confirmed the authenticity of this work.
