Max Ernst More Art
American, German, French, 1891-1976
Born in Germany in 1891, later naturalized as an American, then a French citizen, Max Ernst was a pioneer in the Dada and Surrealist movements, the boundaries of which he pushed with his unconventional methods of printmaking, drawing and collage.
Ernst had no formal art training — and that may have been his greatest asset. He produced his first work following four years serving in World War I. At the time, he was in Cologne, Germany, working closely with fellow Dada pioneers Jean Arp and Johannes Baargeld. His output during this period consisted largely of collages, which allowed him to represent the shards, rubble and explosions from his traumatic wartime experience.
In 1922, Ernst moved to France, where he soon became affiliated with Surrealism, the avant-garde art movement taking shape in Paris. Alongside Man Ray, Joan Miró and a couple of others, Ernst was among the first visual artists to experiment with imagery and techniques associated with Surrealism.
Ernst’s greatest contribution to the Surrealist movement was his invention of frottage (French for “rubbing”), wherein an artist rubs a pencil or crayon over a paper atop a textured surface, and later grattage (French for “scraping”), where a similar technique is applied with paint. Both methods showcase Ernst’s fascination with the unconscious and serendipitous elements of artistic creation, a theme that connected the Dadaists and the Surrealists. Ernst had deep knowledge of psychoanalysis and Sigmund Freud’s dream theories, which were big influences on Surrealists. He was among the first Surrealists to use Freud’s work to examine his own creative impulses. He also published a series of books of his collages, all of which were deeply symbolic and often philosophical.
When Germany occupied France during World War II, Ernst escaped to America with the help of patron and collector Peggy Guggenheim, whom he married in 1941. While living in New York, Ernst’s work and techniques proved instrumental in inspiring the early development of Abstract Expressionism — influencing Robert Motherwell and Jackson Pollock in particular. He later moved to Sedona, Arizona, where he lived with his fourth wife, Dorothea Tanning, a fellow Surrealist and prolific visual artist and poet.
While Ernst and Tanning are largely responsible for Sedona’s reputation as an artist colony, they relocated to France in the 1950s and remained until Ernst’s death in Paris in 1976.
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Artist: Max Ernst
Sept Microbes - Rare Book - 1953
By Max Ernst
Located in Roma, IT
Edition of 1100 copies. Copy on Marais une fleur paper. Includes 31 colorful, scale reproductions of original works by Ernst. French language. Binding partially detached. Very good c...
Category
1950s Surrealist Max Ernst More Art
Materials
Paper
Les Malheurs des Immortels - Rare Book illustrated by Max Ernst - 1922
By Max Ernst
Located in Roma, IT
Les Malheurs des Immortels révélés par Paul Eluard et Max Ernst. Collection of poems and prints Woodcuts. Uncut. Copy number 822 of 1300. This copy is printed on paper Madagascar.
Category
1920s Modern Max Ernst More Art
Materials
Paper
La Dame Ovale - Vintage Rare Book Illustrated by Max Ernst - 1934
By Max Ernst
Located in Roma, IT
La Dame Ovale is an original modern rare book written by Mary Leonora Carrington (Chorley, Lancashire 1917 – Mexico City, 2011) and illustrated by Max Ernst (1891 - 1976) in 1934.
Original edition.
Published by GLM, Paris.
535 numbered copies.
Format: small 8°.
Seven full page collages.
Unnumbered pages.
Good conditions.
Max Ernst in 1934. Originally a Dada activist in Germany, Max Ernst (1891 - 1976) became one of the early adherents of the Surrealist circle. As a child living in a small community near Cologne, Ernst had considered his existence incredible and full of wonders. In autobiographical transcripts, written mostly in the third person, he said of his birth: “Max Ernst had his first contact with the world of sense on the 2nd April 1891 at 9:45 a.m., when he emerged from the egg which his mother had laid in an eagle’s nest and which the bird had incubated for seven years”. Ernst’s service in the German army during World War I swept away his early success as an Expressionist. In his own words: “Max Ernst died on 1st August 1914. He returned to life on 11th November 1918, a young man who wanted to become a magician and find the central myth of his age. From time to time he consulted the eagle which had guarded the egg of his prenatal existence. The bird’s advice can be detected in his work”.
Mary Leonora Carrington (Chorley, Lancashire 1917 – Mexico City, 2011). Carrington was a British-born Mexican artist, surrealist painter, and novelist. She lived most of her adult life in Mexico City and was one of the last surviving participants in the Surrealist movement of the 1930s. Carrington was also a founding member of the women's liberation movement in Mexico during the 1970s.
In 1936 Leonora saw the work of the German surrealist...
Category
1930s Surrealist Max Ernst More Art
Materials
Photogravure, Paper
A l’Intérieur de la Vue - Rare Book Illustrated by Max Ernst - 1948
By Max Ernst
Located in Roma, IT
A l’Intérieur de la Vue is an original modern rare book written by Paul Éluard (Saint-Denis, 1895 – Charenton-le-Pont, 1952) and illustrated by Max Ernst (1891 - 1976) in 1948.
Orig...
Category
1940s Surrealist Max Ernst More Art
Materials
Paper, Mixed Media
At Eye Level Paramyths - Rare Book Illustrated by Max Ernst - 1949
By Max Ernst
Located in Roma, IT
At Eye Level Paramyths is an original modern rare book illustrated by Max Ernst (1891 - 1976) and written by Various Authors in 1949.
Original Edition, designed by Max Ernst as cat...
Category
1940s Surrealist Max Ernst More Art
Materials
Paper, Mixed Media
La Femme 100 Têtes - Rare Book Illustrated by Max Ernst - 1929
By Max Ernst
Located in Roma, IT
La Femme 100 Têtes is an original modern rare book illustrated by Max Ernst (1891 - 1976) in 1929, and extraordinary first example of conceptual art
Original first edition.
Publish...
Category
1920s Surrealist Max Ernst More Art
Materials
Mixed Media, Paper
Le Rêve d’une Petite Fille - Rare Book Illustrated by Max Ernst - 1930
By Max Ernst
Located in Roma, IT
Le Rêve d’une Petite Fille qui voulut entrer au Carmel is an original modern rare book illustrated by Max Ernst (1891 - 1976) in 1930.
Original first edition.
Editions du Carrefour...
Category
1930s Surrealist Max Ernst More Art
Materials
Paper, Mixed Media
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Located in Roma, IT
Superb correspondence between Max Ernst and Nesto Jacometti, (1953-1959), comprising 5 items, among which:
1)L.A.S.s.l.n.d. (Lettre autographe signée sans lieu ni date), Autograph Letter signed neither date nor place, from Max Ernst to Nesto Jacometti (presumably post-1953). One page (12.2 x 19 cm), with sketch on the reverse showing directions to his atelier. Two ring holes in left margin, usual folds of the sheet. Signed recto and verso. In French, blue ink. Very good condition, except small tear upper right margin, crease lower right margin.
Brief letter in which the artist fixes an appointment with the renowned collector of graphic art, Nesto Jacometti, for the following day at his studio – atelier 15, impasse Ronsin, to show him his new lithographs. The text is enhanced on the recto by a detailed map, drawn by the artist to show the exact location of the studio.
2) L.T. (Lettre dactylographiée) Letter typewritten of Nesto Jacometti, addressed to “mon amì Max Ernst”, with heading “A l’occasion du Prix de la Peinture de la Biennale de Venise 1954”, Herrliberg, 15 July 1954. One page (29.7x21 cm) with two ring holes in left margin. Usual creases in flimsy copy paper, slight tear upper right corner edge. In French. Very good condition.
3) Carbon copy L.T. (Lettre dactylographiée) Typewritten Letter from Nesto Jacometti, addressed to Max Ernst, dated 15 July 1954, Herrliberg. Pen and black ink cancellations and corrections. Signed. One page (29.7x21cm) with two ring holes in left margin. Usual creases of flimsy copy paper, one very small crease in upper left corner. In French. Very good condition. Original and carbon copy of letter of congratulations, signed by Nesto Jacometti to his artist friend for his award at the Venice Biennial.
In 1954, a year after his final return to France, Max Ernst obtained the recognition of a lifetime, which had eluded him until then in his native Germany, in his adopted nation, France, as well as in the New World. The surrealist received the coveted “Grand Prize for painting” at the Venice Biennale. The conferment of this award must have seemed a trick of destiny to the great artist, who had always made clear how his programme was “beyond painting”, but at least it allowed to allow him to live and work without financial problems. What’s more, such an award upset the delicate equilibrium between him and his fellow surrealists. “I admired your work in silence in Venice” the collector confessed: “your work speaks to me like a proud and nearby spirit.” He continues by describing in poetic, aesthetic and surreal terms his emotional involvement in the presence of an Ernst. He concludes by dedicating a poem in his own hand to the “enfant-poète” and to the “man-flower surrounded by silence”.
4) L.T.S. (Lettre dactylographiée signée) Typewritten letter signed, from Max Ernst to Nesto Jacometti, headed “Nesto Jacometti – Herrliberg (Zurich)” Herrliberg (Zurich), 4 August 1954. With signature in carbon copy and message handwritten by the collector in carbon copy. One page (29.7x21cm) with two ring holes in left margin. Usual folds and creases of flimsy copy paper. In French. Very good condition.
Letter in which priorities are established: work schedule, technical details such as dimensions, payments and appointments between artist and gallery owners. Once the “Le Lisière de la Foret” lithographs are signed and on their way back to Switzerland for the maison Klipstein in Berne, it would be necessary to proceed with the “two lithographs” (of which size and paper are defined), which are to be part of Nesto’s Catalogue of Engravings, planned for September. Max Ernst is occupied with the tenth plate of “Ubu-Hibou”, a surreal character from Alfred Larry’s theatrical work (Le Livre d’Art, journal of Paul Fort 1896), considered to be the work which anticipated the surrealist movement and the theatre of the absurd.
5) L.T.s.l. (Lettre dactylographiée sans lieu) Typewritten letter without place, from Nesto Jacometti to Max Ernst. 1 October 1959. One page (29.7 x 21 cm) with two ring holes in left margin. Usual fold of the flimsy blue copy paper. In French. Very good condition, slight yellowing of the paper on upper margin.
Letter in which Nesto Jacometti thanks the artist for having wanted to participate and collaborate with his sales catalogue “L’Oeuvre gravée”, illustrated with reproductions of engravings and photographs of the artist’s work. It is his pride and joy. Further, the collector informs Ernst that Veno Pilon...
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Max Ernst more art for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a wide variety of authentic Max Ernst more art available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Max Ernst in paper, mixed media, intaglio and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 20th century and is mostly associated with the Surrealist style. Not every interior allows for large Max Ernst more art, so small editions measuring 6 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of André Masson, Jean Cocteau, and Diane Flick. Max Ernst more art prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $612 and tops out at $7,798, while the average work can sell for $2,677.
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Questions About Max Ernst More Art
- Where did Max Ernst live?1 Answer1stDibs ExpertApril 26, 2024Max Ernst lived in several places during his life. He was born in Brühl, Germany, in 1881 and later moved to Bonn to attend the university located there. Then he settled in Cologne, not far from his birthplace. In 1922, Ernst moved to France, where he soon became affiliated with Surrealism, the avant-garde art movement taking shape in Paris. Alongside Man Ray, Joan Miró and others, Ernst was among the first visual artists to experiment with imagery and techniques associated with Surrealism. When Germany occupied France during World War II, Ernst escaped to America with the help of patron and collector Peggy Guggenheim, whom he married in 1941. While living in New York, Ernst's work and techniques proved instrumental in inspiring the early development of Abstract Expressionism. He later moved to Sedona, Arizona, where he lived with his fourth wife, Dorothea Tanning, a fellow Surrealist and prolific visual artist and poet. While Ernst and Tanning are largely responsible for Sedona's reputation as an artist colony, they relocated to France in the 1950s and remained there until Ernst's death in Paris in 1976. On 1stDibs, shop a collection of Max Ernst art.
- 1stDibs ExpertMarch 13, 2024You can see Max Ernst paintings in many places around the world. The Max Ernst Museum Brühl des LVR in Brühl, Germany, is home to one of the largest exhibitions of his work. Other museums that have Max Ernst paintings in their permanent collections include the Museum of Modern Art in New York, New York; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco, California; the Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois and the Detroit Institute of Arts in Detroit, Michigan. Explore a range of Max Ernst art on 1stDibs.