The myth of Sisyphus

My last post about Max Klinger reminded me that I have some very exciting lithographs by André 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 nacré 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 André Masson. Mine is justified 46/200.

André Masson, Sisyphe

Lithograph, 1962

André Masson, The myth of Sisyphus I

Lithograph, 1962

André Masson, The myth of Sisyphus II

Lithograph, 1962

André Masson, The myth of Sisyphus III

Lithograph, 1962

André Masson, The myth of Sisyphus IV

Lithograph, 1962

André Masson was born in Balagny-sur-Thérain 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 André 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 André 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.