Battle of the Fishes 1927

André Masson made "Battle of the Fishes" with pastel and pencil, and boy, does it look like a battle! The colors are muted, almost like faded memories, but the lines are sharp, darting like fish bones. It's all process here, you can see the artist thinking as he goes. The texture is dreamy, smudgy pastels give this raw, immediate feel. Look at the fish on the left, that little red mark below it, like a drop of blood in water, or maybe just a stray mark. How does that relate to the spiky, scratchy mass of the fish on the right? Is this an actual battle, or are the two fish an exploration of the push and pull of marks across the page? Masson was hanging out with the Surrealists, so he was all about automatic drawing, and letting the subconscious guide the hand. Joan Miró did some similarly freewheeling stuff too, and, like both of them, this piece feels like a reminder that art isn’t always about answers; sometimes, it’s about diving into the murky depths of not knowing.