Combat d'animaux, 1929
Signed
Pastel on paper
19.9 x 24.8 in, 50.5 x 63 cm
Provenance
Lucie Weill, Paris
Exhibitions
Tokyo, "de Picasso à Dali", n°44.
2001-2002, Franfurt, Die Galerie, André Masson
Retrospektive, 15 novembre-12 janvier, rep.p5
theme for the magazine Documents, whilst Masson made a
series of drawings in which animals engage in physical power
struggles. These drawings also allude to Masson's traumatic
experience during World War One, when he had been gravely
wounded. Images of animals in combat foreshadow the
series Les Massacres (1930-34) which depicts human killing.
Like Miró and Picasso, Masson began to express his political
beliefs through visual means and his art increasingly revealed
his concern for the Spanish people and his support for the
Republican Government.
There is an erotically charged atmosphere to these works
too. In the first drawing one animal thrusts itself upon the
other, forcing it to the floor in an entanglement of limbs. In the
second drawing, open-mouthed snakes coil and twist, one
above the other. From 1929-1930 Masson contributed similar
drawings to illustrate an essay by Bataille which dealt with the
primordial violence of sexuality in animals and human beings,
a prevalent theme within Surrealism.
