The myth of Sisyphus

My last post about Max Klinger reminded me that I have some very exciting lithographs by Andr� Masson on the same theme of the myth of Sisyphus. They were made in 1962 for an edition of Le mythe de Sisyphe by Albert Camus. The lithographs were printed on pearly Japon nacr� paper by Mourlot, in an edition of 200 copies. The book was printed in an edition of 5000 copies, all on Arches wove paper. The 200 suites also had an additional print (the first illustrated in this post), not included in the books, and hand-signed by Andr� Masson. Mine is justified 46/200.

Andr� Masson, Sisyphe
Lithograph, 1962


Andr� Masson, The myth of Sisyphus I
Lithograph, 1962

Andr� Masson, The myth of Sisyphus II
Lithograph, 1962

Andr� Masson, The myth of Sisyphus III
Lithograph, 1962

Andr� Masson, The myth of Sisyphus IV
Lithograph, 1962

Andr� Masson was born in Balagny-sur-Th�rain in France, but brought up in Belgium. He studied in Brussels and at the Beaux-Arts, Paris. He was seriously injured fighting for France in WWI. In the 1920s Andr� Masson was one of the founders of Surrealism, and although he dissociated himself from Breton and the surrealists in the 1930s, his life'?s work is nevertheless best understood in the context of Surrealism. The art of Andr� Masson was condemned as degenerate by the Nazis, and he fled to America for the years 1941-5, where his work was a huge influence on the Abstract Expressionists. There was a major Masson retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, in 1976.

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