André Masson

Andre Masson (1896-1987) was one of the major early French Surrealist painters. A close friend of Andre Breton, Joan Miro and Max Ernst, he joined the Surrealist movement in the early 1920s, then disassociated with it in the early 1930s, focusing instead on the human condition - the fundamental impulses of love and hatred - and reacting to the Spanish Civil War. In the early 1940s, Masson moved to America and became interested in mythical imagery. Many of his paintings from this period show a focus on African American and Native American myths, and the style of his expression and brushwork influenced many young American painters.