The ceramic artist André Aleth Masson has sometimes been unfairly relegated to the second tier of contemporary ceramic history. The 23 pieces featured in the French Design sale reveal the full extent of his talent.
André Aleth Masson has not yet quite achieved the renown of artists like Georges Jouve, André Borderie, or Pierre Székely, true stars of the ceramics world in the 1950s. However, the twenty or so works presented at the French Design sale fully showcase a sculptor, engraver, and painter who can undoubtedly rival the most inspired creators. A student at the Beaux-Arts schools in Rennes and later in Paris after the war, he joined the Fontcarrade school in 1947, where he learned ceramics.
His early creations reflect the era’s taste for "free-form" objects, often glazed (such as the Vase-Pitcher known as Chat, estimated at €2,500–€3,500), which enjoyed great success during his first participation in the Salon des Indépendants in 1950. This initial success was later solidified, particularly through the three solo exhibitions dedicated to him by the M.A.I. gallery between 1952 and 1951. A decisive encounter took place at Yvonne Zervos’ gallery, where he met André Borderie.
A fellow ceramicist and member of the Espace group founded by sculptor Pierre Székely, Borderie saw in Masson his closest collaborator—the only one, in his view, capable of technically realizing his monumental projects. Borderie’s influence is evident, particularly in one of the most interesting pieces in the sale, the Cratère lamp (1962), estimated at €20,000–€30,000.
Gradually, Aleth Masson moved away from traditional ceramic objects, steering his work toward a more architectural approach. This shift is embodied in an interior architecture project, a fireplace that would undoubtedly have appealed to Valentine Schlegel (estimated at €2,000–€3,000). Engaging with the “Living Wall” movement, founded by architect Jean Merlet and sculptor Robert Juvin with the goal of “bringing an interesting plastic animation to architectural space” (Raymond Lopez, Mur Vivant magazine, 1967), Masson developed a series of micro-architectures that alternated between futuristic and organic forms (lots 103 & 104: Lamp, c. 1963, estimated at €15,000–€20,000, and Lamp, c. 1966, estimated at €12,000–€18,000).
The sculptor fully expressed his talents as a “painter-plastician” through ceramics, as evidenced by the Composition panel (estimated at €15,000–€20,000), created in 1971 for collectors Bernard and Claudette Leportier. This piece was featured on the cover of Thomas Leporrier’s book André Aleth Masson: Céramiste, Peintre et Sculpteur (TL Editions, 2011).
