<p>André Masson was born in Saint-Malo in 1919. He studied at the Beaux-Arts in Rennes in 1938, but he was called up. After the war, he entered the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he met Denise, his future wife. Both trained in ceramics at the Fontcarrade school near Montpellier. The couple returned to Paris in 1949, André Masson bought his first oven which he installed in his workshop in Vincennes. He then uses the engobe technique, applying metal oxides on raw earth before firing. André Masson first works with red earth from Marseilles then he chooses a clayey and chamottée white earth from Gournay-en-Bray, to which he will remain faithful. His first ceramics are black, brown or white. Its soft, rounded, generous shapes appealed from the start of its production. His pieces were exhibited for the first time in 1950, at the Salon des Indépendants.</p><p> It was not long before he made himself known, thanks to a personal exhibition at the MAI gallery, in 1952. In 1954, he took part in the Salon des Artistes Décorateurs. This first Salon enabled him to win the Prix Henri-Mercier with his “Cocotte” decanter. He will participate in this Salon until 1980. In 1953, he meets André Borderie, of whom he becomes a close friend and with whom he will work very regularly all his life. Over time, while his first productions retained a utilitarian aspect, the forms became freer and André Masson's ceramics became more and more sculptural and architectural. The colors are explosive. The couple moved in 1961, which allowed them to enjoy a larger space. André Masson then produced increasingly voluminous and sophisticated ceramic pieces.</p><p> The artist joined the Living Wall movement in 1968. Created by a group of architects and visual artists, this movement advocates architectural research, through the publication of a magazine and the organization of exhibitions. With André Borderie, they executed various architectural panels, for the Faculty of Medicine of Grenoble, the house of the ORTF, the hall of the RER of La Défense or even that of the Invalides.</p><p> At the end of the 1970s, after years of work, responding to orders from all over, André decided to return to Saint-Malo with his wife. For the couple, a new life begins: the City places orders with Denise and André continues to innovate, creating numerous pieces that he exhibits in their gallery-workshop. His mastery of enamel then reached its peak. It was at this time that he decided to add the surname "Aleth" to his name.</p><p> André Aleth-Masson, an outstanding creator, ceramist, sculptor, but also a painter at times, died on the land where he was born, in Saint-Malo, in 2009. He will have privileged, throughout his career, the piece unique to the series model.</p>
