Ernst, Max

Ernst, Max
born April 2, 1891, Brühl, Ger.
died April 1, 1976, Paris, Fr.

German-born French painter and sculptor.

He gave up studying philosophy and psychology at Bonn University for painting. After serving in World War I, he became the leader of the Dada movement in Cologne (1919), working in collage and photomontage. A characteristic work is Here Everything Is Still Floating (1920), a startlingly illogical composition made from cutout photographs of insects, fish, and anatomical drawings. In 1922 he settled in Paris and was among the founders of Surrealism. His work was imaginative and experimental; he pioneered the technique of frottage and experimented with automatism. After 1934 the irrational and whimsical imagery seen in his paintings appeared also in his sculpture. In 1941 he moved to New York City, where he joined his third wife, Peggy Guggenheim, and began collaborating with Marcel Duchamp. He returned to France in 1953 and continued to produce lyrical and abstract works.

Max Ernst, photograph by Yousuf Karsh, 1965.

© Karsh from Rapho/Photo Researchers

* * *

▪ German artist

born April 2, 1891, Brühl, Ger.
died April 1, 1976, Paris, Fr.
 German painter, sculptor, one of the leading advocates of irrationality in art, and an originator of the Automatism movement of Surrealism. His youthful interests were psychiatry and philosophy, but he abandoned his studies at the University of Bonn for painting.

      After serving in the German army during World War I, Ernst was converted to Dada (q.v.), a nihilistic art movement, and formed a group of Dada artists in Cologne; with the artist-poet Jean Arp, he edited journals and created a scandal by staging a Dada exhibit in a public rest room. More important, however, were his Dada collages (collage) and photomontages, such as “Here Everything Is Still Floating” (1920), a startlingly illogical composition made from cutout photographs of insects, fish, and anatomical drawings ingeniously arranged to suggest the multiple identity of the things depicted.

      In 1922 Ernst moved to Paris, where, two years later, he became a founding member of the Surrealists, a group of artists and writers whose work grew out of fantasies evoked from the unconscious. To stimulate the flow of imagery from his unconscious mind, Ernst began in 1925 to use the techniques of frottage (pencil rubbings of such things as wood grain, fabric, or leaves) and decalcomania (decal) (the technique of transferring paint from one surface to another by pressing the two surfaces together). Contemplating the accidental patterns and textures resulting from these techniques, he allowed free association to suggest images he subsequently used in a series of drawings (“Histoire naturelle,” 1926) and in many paintings such as “The Great Forest” (1927) and “The Temptation of St. Anthony” (1945). These vast, swamplike landscapes stem ultimately from the tradition of nature mysticism of the German Romantics.

      After 1934 Ernst's activities centred increasingly on sculpture, using improvised techniques in this medium just as he had in painting. “Oedipus II” (1934), for example, was cast from a stack of precariously balanced wooden pails to form a belligerent-looking phallic image.

      At the outbreak of World War II, Ernst moved to the United States, where he joined his third wife, the collector and gallery owner Peggy Guggenheim (Guggenheim, Peggy), and his son, the American painter Jimmy Ernst. While living on Long Island, N.Y., and after 1946 in Sedona, Ariz. (with his fourth wife, the American painter Dorothea Tanning), he concentrated on such sculptures as “The King Playing with the Queen” (1944), which shows African influence. After his return to France in 1949, his work became less experimental: he spent much time perfecting his modeling technique in traditional sculptural materials.

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Ernst,Max — Ernst (ĕrnst), Max. 1891 1976. German born artist and a founder of Dada and surrealism. Noted for his use of frottage and collage, he explored the subconscious through his stylistically varied works, such as the painting Old Man, Woman, and… …   Universalium

  • Ernst Max Schottky — Nacimiento 1888 Fallecimiento 1915 Residencia Alemania Nacionalidad alemán …   Wikipedia Español

  • Ernst Max Mohr — (* 20. April 1910 in Ebersbach an der Fils, Württemberg; † 16. Mai 1989 in Berlin) war ein deutscher Mathematiker. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Leben 2 Werke (Auswahl) 3 Literatur …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Ernst, Max — (1891 1976)    German born French painter, designer, sculptor, writer    A seminal figure of 20th century art, in both dadaism and surrealism, Max Ernst, noted for his extraordinary range of style, technique, and media, was born in Bruhl and… …   France. A reference guide from Renaissance to the Present

  • Ernst, Max — ► (1891 1976) Pintor alemán. Fue uno de los fundadores del surrealismo. En 1925 utilizó el «frottage», consistente en frotar un lápiz sobre el papel para que se vean las vetas de la madera, las tramas de los tejidos, etc., produciendo obras con… …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Ernst, Max — (1891 1976)    painter, illustrator, and sculptor; member of Co logne s Dada* circle and a founder of French Surrealism. Born in Brühl, as a young man (1908 1911) he studied philosophy and psychology, training himself as an artist in his spare… …   Historical dictionary of Weimar Republik

  • Max Ernst — and Dorothea Tanning in 1948 Born April 2, 1891(1891 04 02) Brühl, Germany …   Wikipedia

  • Max Ernst — y Willy Brandt el 29 de agosto de 1972 …   Wikipedia Español

  • Max Opitz — Ernst Max Opitz, 1951 Max Ernst Opitz (* 11. September 1890 in Bernsdorf/Sachsen; † 7. Januar 1982 in Ost Berlin) war ein deutscher Kommunalpolitiker. Zwischen 1949 und 1951 war er als Oberbürgermeister …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Max Ernst Opitz — Ernst Max Opitz, 1951 Max Ernst Opitz (* 11. September 1890 in Bernsdorf/Sachsen; † 7. Januar 1982 in Ost Berlin) war ein deutscher Kommunalpolitiker. Zwischen 19 …   Deutsch Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”