The 20th century depicted radical changes that significantly influenced art, culture, politics, and religion. The beginning of the century saw extraordinary changes in avant-garde artists, reflected by artistic movements including cubism, surrealism, Dada art, fauvism, pop art, and expressionism. The upheaval or artistic movements were brought by waves of imperialism, nationalism, and post-war experiences, which influenced the artists’ portrayal of their artwork. Andre Masson is among the significant artists who brought changes in art culture, influencing modern art in various ways. This essay discusses the artistic automatism aesthetics of Andre Masson and how he utilized the element in his art pieces to create surreal images.
Arguably, Masson’s artistic work is among the famous pieces which revolutionized the art culture and have influenced contemporary works of art worldwide. His background and childhood became essential to his later work as an artist by influencing his surrealist views of art. Additionally, the artist was on the war front during world war I, leading to severe injuries that played a major role in his artistic ideas and techniques. Masson is known for creating the automatism approach of art to create surreal images with different meanings ranging from war, anger, sexuality, and violence. The aesthetic elements of automatism include expressive and sinuous lines to create abstract biomorphic forms (Nechvatal, 67). In his earlier works, Masson’s art was influenced by the cubism movement and was characterized by cubes, circles, lines, and curves. He joined the surrealism movement in mid-1920 under Andre Breton, where he started experimenting with automatic drawings. According to (King, 07), Masson’s automatism elements were meant to create spontaneous and uncensored art to express impulses and artistic images formed in the unconscious mind. Hence, it unlocked the artist’s basic creativity instincts, which portrayed their personality.
Masson has created several famous pieces of art using automatism to depict surreal images for his subconscious. One of Masson’s famous automatic paintings is The Tower of Sleep, painted in 1938 (Masson, The Tower of Sleep). The artist uses both cubism and automatic techniques, which complement together to create a surreal image. The painting is characterized by abstract and biomorphic forms created by sinuous and abrasive lines leading to a metamorphosized image. An observer can identify a central image crushed by other figures in the surrounding, making it a chaotic piece of art. According to (King, 05), the piece symbolizes destruction, erotism, and death, which are images influenced by Masson’s experience during the war. The mechanical elements in the image are portrayed by human figures metamorphosizing into musical instruments, which disintegrate to create biomorphic forms.
An observer can be drawn to the central figure, which portrays a biomorphic human without a phallus a d leaking body fluids from a cavity. In the surrounding, a musical instrument is animated, making it seem to be sawing its strings. The image is enhanced by grotesque and distorted flesh depicting a woman transforming into a harp. Although abstract, the art portrays the horrors of war associated with death, sex, birth, and destruction. Masson’s automatism technique and aesthetic elements have influenced the artistic works of several 20th-century art pieces and popular artists. Marko Rothko and Jackson Pollock are famous artists influenced by Masson’s automatic (Nechvatal, 67). Pollock enhanced the technique of action painting, which has had a significant influence on contemporary art.
In conclusion, Andre Masson is a famous artist who developed automatic drawing and painting in 20th-century art. Primary elements in his drawing include expressive and sinuous lines to form surreal, abstract biomorphic forms. The approach involves drawing from the subconscious, forming uncontrolled images that depict a particular theme. The main themes in Masson’s work are war, sex, destruction, and death, which are influenced by war experiences and life events. Through his work, the artists influenced the evolution of other artistic approaches, such as action painting which remains significant in contemporary art.
Works Cited
King, Elliot H. “Visual Methods.” The Routledge Companion to Surrealism, edited by Kirsten Strom, Taylor & Francis, Routledge, New York, New York, 2022, pp. 1–11.
Masson, Andre. “In the Tower of Sleep.” Works | Search the Collection | Baltimore Museum of Art, 1970, Web.
Nechvatal, Joseph. “Before and beyond the Bachelor Machine.” Arts, vol. 7, no. 4, 2018, p. 67., Web.