André Masson — c. 1960–1969 · ACL-018
Germination, metamorphosis and the passage from plant to animal run through the whole of André Masson's work, from the automatic drawings of the 1920s to the large post-war canvases. Éclosion carries that motif into three dimensions: a form opening up, somewhere between bud and body.
The bronze was cast by Valsuani, the Paris foundry of the École de Paris and Surrealist sculptors. It is numbered 2 of 6.
Its provenance is documented at every step. It first appears at Galerie Louise Leiris in 1966 — the gallery of Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, Masson's historic dealer. It then passed through Sotheby's in London in 2002, and Artcurial in Paris, where it entered the collection.
