Oriental Consciousness in André Masson’s Automatic Paintings

Abstract

André Masson has long been regarded as a representative figure of surrealist and automatism painting, but a closer look at his works makes it easy to find a dialogic nature with ancient Chinese calligraphy and painting. Influenced by Breton's concept of automatic writing, his works also draw on Chinese ink paintings of the Song Dynasty, abandoning perspective and playing the important role of white space. This paper tries to sort out the lineage of the emergence of Oriental consciousness in Masson's automatic paintings and explains the specific expression of Chinese painting in his art.