The Industrial Beast (La Bête industrielle), Plate IX from "Bestiary (Bestiaire)"

Accession Number
1956/1.43

Title
The Industrial Beast (La Bête industrielle), Plate IX from "Bestiary (Bestiaire)"

Artist(s)
André Masson

Artist Nationality
French (culture or style)

Object Creation Date
1945

Medium & Support
lithograph on paper

Dimensions
16 in x 12 in (40.64 cm x 30.48 cm);16 in x 12 in (40.64 cm x 30.48 cm);22 1/8 in x 18 1/8 in (56.2 cm x 46.04 cm)

Credit Line
Museum Purchase

Label copy
This is one of twelve lithographs that comprise the Masson’s antiwar portfolio Bestiaire. From exile in Connecticut, the artist composed powerful images accompanied by crisp captions that castigate the bestiality to which World War II reduced humankind and criticize social ills pervading Western civilization. Plate IX is a horrific nightmarish scene in which a threatening form, suggesting the annihilating capacity of industry, looms over skulls.
Masson’s friend Georges Duthuit wrote the introduction; the lithographs were pulled by master printer George Miller. The book was published by Masson’s dealer Curt Valentin in New York.
Label copy from exhibition "Dreamscapes: The Surrealist Impulse," August 22 - October 25, 1998

Primary Object Classification
Print

Collection Area
Modern and Contemporary

Rights
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit http://umma.umich.edu/request-image for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.

Keywords
Figures
Surrealism
faces
fragment
head
heads (animal components)
modern and contemporary art

36 Related Resources

Apocalypses
(Part of 4 Learning Collections)
Horror
(Part of 9 Learning Collections)
Monsters
(Part of 4 Learning Collections)
Robots and Other Automata
(Part of 9 Learning Collections)
Social Justice
(Part of 3 Learning Collections)
Social Justice and Art 1929-1945
(Part of 4 Learning Collections)
Surrealism
(Part of 3 Learning Collections)
Work and Workers
(Part of 9 Learning Collections)
Combat, Battle, Warfare
(Part of 3 Learning Collections)
CRC Classroom Resource: Art Books 
(Part of: CRC Classroom Resources)
Human Rights
(Part of 8 Learning Collections)
F19 Berkley - LHSP 125 - Monsters and Beasts
(Part of: Resources Made by Isabel Engel)
W20 Jeremy Glover - ENGLISH 125 038
(Part of: Resources Made by Isabel Engel)
W20 Gibelyou - ALA 350 - Predicting the Future (ENGEL ROOM)
(Part of: Resources Made by Isabel Engel)
W21 Tanielian - INTLSTD 401 - Afterlives
(Part of: Resources Made by Isabel Engel)

& Author Notes

All Rights Reserved