出版者

麻布大学

雑誌

麻布大学雑誌 = Journal of Azabu University (ISSN:13465880)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.23, pp.1-16, 2012-02-29

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André Masson was a French modern painter, regarded as one of the foremost surrealists of the early 20th century. Masson indeed left many works based on surrealistic automatism, notable for their striking lines, colors, and unique compositions. His main subjects involved depictions of eroticism and cruel violence. It should be stressed that Masson was a painter who considered and tried to express his profound philosophical ideas, mainly derived from the influence from F. Nietzsche and G. Battaile. Complete transcendental individualism, serious critical viewpoints that negate reason and Christianity resulted from the influence of Nietzschean philosophy. His startling images of sexuality, immolation and sacrifices, and the cruelviolence of massacres developed from the archeological ideas of G. Battaile. Among these themes the most remarkable characteristics of Masson’s art are the expression of cruelty and eroticism. Cruelty is the essence which Masson obtained through his personal experiences of the horrors of the First World War, and the anxieties and depression of fascism before the World War II. His images of merciless cruelty and violence are thus derived from his own experience. Eroticism and sexuality are closely related to both life and death, suggesting that birth is in equilibrium with death, and sexuality is equal to corruption. Continuity of life is made possible by cruel immolation and sadistic sacrifice. Sexuality is essential for this continuity of human survival. Death basically means the discontinuity that breaks the continuity of life. Therefore, sexuality and immolation are necessarily described in violent and cruel mythical expression. Masson applied the method of myth to his works, with the figures of Dionysus and the Minotaur as the symbols of the method. The purpose of this study is to clarify Masson’s fundamental ideas for art, to reveal the essence which constitutes his art, and to make clear the place of Masson’ s art in modern art of the 20th century.