Drawing

Description

Masson’s early Surrealist drawings represent some of the first attempts by visual artists to respond to Breton’s idea of "pure psychic automatism." The artist’s method was to work without preconceived notions, allowing the pen to move freely and rapidly on the paper, with more conscious intervention as the drawing developed. While the first automatic drawings Masson created in 1924 were tightly interwoven, his slightly later ones, such as the one in the Museum’s collection, are much looser in effect. The present drawing is executed in bold pen strokes; disjunctive male anatomical parts together with ocean-related motifs such as waves and a fish, suggest a male torso emerging from the sea.
Label copy from exhibition "Dreamscapes: The Surrealist Impulse," August 22 - October 25, 1998