Nocturne 1944

Andre Masson made this etching, Nocturne, sometime in the 20th century, and it’s a world of scratchy, scribbly marks. I love how you can almost feel the artist digging into the plate, each line a little journey. Looking closely, you see this tangle of shapes, part organic, part architectural, all rendered in the stark contrast of black ink on paper. The textures vary from velvety darks to light hazy areas. Look at the way the lines cluster and spread, building up the density of the image. Notice that central form, it almost reads like a figure, or maybe a landscape, dissolving into abstraction. For me, this approach is reminiscent of the automatic drawings of Joan Miró, but with a darker edge. Masson invites us into a space where forms are fluid and meanings are multiple, it is not about clarity, it is about possibilities.