A Study in the Life and Art of Max Ernst
He was a self-taught artist, having studied at the University of Bonn. He visited asylums regularly as he was fascinated by the artwork of mental patients. He was often found sketching the gardens at the Bruhl Castle or at home drawing his little sister. Coincidently, he was greatly influenced by the works of Picasso. All of these first impressions of art contributed to his unique style of painting. It has been said that his style contained many juxtaposed grotesque elements alongside Cubism and Expressionist motifs.
World War l interrupted his artistic endeavors as he was drafted and served on both Western and Eastern Fronts. The effect of the war on Ernst was devastating. He wrote in his Autobiography this..."On the first of August, 1914, Max Ernst died. He was resurrected on the 11th of November, 1918."
In 1918, he was demobilized and returned to Cologne, where he married Luise Straus and began a serious attempt to paint. He and several colleagues founded the Cologne Dada Group and organized the Dada Exhibitions.
Now you are asking as you are reading...what does Dada mean? Dada was created by an elite group of artists who mainly painted in Surreal Form and is how Surrealism got its birth. They also created works of collage, photomontage and mixed media assemblage which during that time, this style of art was not considered to be "true art". At the turn of the century, society had begun a change and had also thrust itself into a World War, leaving many people worried and fearful of the future. These Dada Groups sprang up in almost every country of the world, all united in being able to represent their opinions about this great change of their world in their artwork. Many Artists used their art as a protest against war, nationalism, and cultural conformity. They adopted strategies of nonsense, chance and ridiculed "normal" aesthetic values.
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Max met the poet, Paul Eluard, and his life took a radical turn. In 1922, he wanted to leave Cologne and move to Paris where he thought he could have a better chance of exhibiting his work and being recognized as a professional artist. He could not secure the necessary papers to leave Cologne, so he divorced his wife, Luise, and entered France illegally. he found his friend, Eluard and was immediately taken in and began living with them. Then the evitable happened, Ernst began a "menage a trois" with Eluard and his wife, Gala. Eluard knew people and became instrumental was instrumental in helping Ernst get his artwork noticed and his paintings began to sell. His career as a professional artist began to bloom and grow, however, his private life was not so successful as the tryst between the three of them did not last very long. Eluard began to resist the notion of his wife having intimate relations with his best friend. The affair ended and Eluard would remain friends with Ernst for the rest of his life.
In1926, Ernst invented two Graphic art techniques, one is called Fottage, which uses pencil rubbings of objects as a source of images and the other one is called, Grottage, which is scraped paint across a canvas to reveal the placed objects beneath it. His paintings, Forest and Dove and Black Forest are examples of these techniques.
He developed a fascination with birds which he suggested was an earlier extension of himself and the confusion of birds and humans. When he was very young, he woke up one night and found that his pet bird had died only to be told by his father, minutes later, that his sister was born.
He published a collage novel, an artist's book entitled, Une Semaine De Bonte, A Week of Kindness. He created 182 collage illustration pages using cut up illustrations and images from Victorian Magazines, Encyclopedias and Novels. The 7-volume book was created in three short weeks. He arranged the images to present a dark, surreal world. He constructed his characters with heads of animals connected to human bodies. The book was received well, widely read, and known for its strange, graphic images and subject manner.
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When WWII broke out, Ernst being of German descent, was considered in Paris to be a "undesirable foreigner". He was arrested and sent to jail. Thanks to his friend, Eluard and other artists, he was released and stayed in Paris until the city was occupied by the Nazi's and then he was arrested again by the Gestapo. He managed to escape to América with the help of Peggy Guggenheim. She met Ernst in Paris and had his works exhibited in the Guggenheim Art Museum in London so she was more than willing to help him! Peggy's motives, sometimes well-intentioned, sometimes not as her actions were nothing but ulterior motives when it came to men who were also famous artists! She was very rich, lived off of her trust fund, and owned two art museums that needed to be filled with the master works of the new Surreal artists! After Max came to America, he and Peggy were married, and coincidently, she began exhibiting his artwork in her New York Art Museum as well.
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His marriage with Peggy did not last, as we all well know, when on that fateful day when Dorothea Tanning stopped by his studio and they played a game of friendly chess and fell in-love. He divorced Peggy and married Dorothea, happy with his artist wife. They moved to a remote part of Sedona, Arizona, where he built a small cottage for them to live and paint together. Even though Sedona was populated by immigrants and farmers, their popularity grew and their influence and artwork inspired many people. They started an American Colony of artists and intellectuals and shared their ideas and techniques with anyone interested in becoming an artist or a writer. They happily resided there for 7 years until France began to call out to them to return. They moved back to Paris and continued to paint and exhibit their work. In 1954, Ernst was awarded the Grand Prize for Painting, in Venice, Biennale.
Max Ernst died 1972 and is buried in the Pere Lachaise Cemetery.
Here is my Ernst Creations:
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