Galerie Louise Leiris, Paris
Acquired by the present owner in April 1997

Stockholm, Svensk-Franska Konstgalleriet, André Masson, 1960, n.n.

Between 1938 and 1947, an unprecedented cultural transference took hold when the greater part of the European Surrealist group were transplanted in New York. Arriving in the United States in 1941, André Masson, along with many members of the Surrealist group, escaped from Vichy France with help from the Emergency Rescue Committee run by the American Varian Fry. While he spent the wartime years and beyond in Roxbury, Connecticut, near Alexander Calder, Masson frequently exhibited in New York and interacted with his Surrealist colleagues as well as members from the burgeoning New York School at Stanley William Hayter’s Atelier 17. Masson’s exile ultimately proved fruitful in terms of the fecundity and maturity of his artistic output, executing what are considered his finest works at this integral period during and shortly after the war, Vestiges d'un massacre (1958) notwithstanding. While young New York artists working contemporaneously to Masson were staying afloat largely through their involvement with the Works Progress Administration and begrudgingly viewed the Surrealists in exile as the traditional aristocracy of the art world, automatism as seen in the present work ultimately proved influential upon their practices. Pollock’s mature works present undeniable influence from Masson who dripped wax in a comparable fashion in Vestiges d'un massacre (see fig. 1). Masson’s influential legacy extends past de Kooning and Gottlieb, his swirling hand foreboding Cy Twombly’s calligraphic and mythological tableaux. 

The work is in excellent condition. The canvas is not lined. The surface is richly textured and well-preserved. Under UV light, no inpainting is apparent.
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The authenticity of this work has kindly been confirmed by the Comité Masson.