EVOLUTIONARY MAX ERNST

 A Study in the Life and Art of Max Ernst

Max Ernst was born April 2, 1891, in Bruhn, south of Cologne. His father, an amateur painter, inspired in him a penchant for defying authority. 

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.

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.

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. 

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. 

The Elephant

Max Ernst died 1972 and is buried in the Pere Lachaise Cemetery.

Here is my Ernst Creations:

Digital art created from Pixabay, Itkupilli's Digital Kit Abandoned Buildings, Friday Designs Digital Kit Old Vintage Portraits, Miriam's Scraps Digital Kit, and DreamFusionPrint Digital Kit DayDream Escapes

DARING DOROTHEA TANNING

Exploring the Art of Dorothea Tanning

 "Am I a surrealist? Must we artists bow our heads and accept a label without which we do not exist? The ideas of surrealism are still very much with me. But I have no label except artist."

Dorothea was born in 1910 in Galesburg, Illinois. She was a self-taught artist and only briefly studied painting in Chicago while haunting the Art Institute where she learned what painting was.  She moved to New York City in 1941 and met the most important influence in her life, the artist and painter Max Ernst. He came to visit her studio to look at one of her paintings but stayed to play a game of chess. They had 34 happy years together. Early in their relationship they decide to move out of the United States and lived in France, where she continued to paint her enigmatic versions of life: on the inside looking out. 

 Dorothea found herself facing a solitary future when Max died on April 1, 1976. 

She was quoted as having said after Max's death, " I was a loner, am a loner, good Lord, it is the only way I can imagine working. When I hooked up with Max, he was clearly the only person I needed, and I can assure you, we never, never talked about art. Never."

 Soon her paint tubes, brushes, and canvases began calling out to her, telling her to go back home to the United States where she remained for the rest of her life.

Dorothea's early paintings were precisely figurative renderings of dream-like situations. In her youth, Dorothea read many gothic, romantic novels in her hometown of Galesburg. These fantastical stories filled with imagery of the imaginary, heavily influenced her style and subject matter for years to come.  Like most Surrealist painters, she was meticulous in her attention to details, building layers of paint with carefully muted brushstrokes.  She painted depictions of unreal scenes, some of which combined erotic subjects with enigmatic symbols and desolate space. While in France, her work radically changed as her paintings took on a less erotic approach and her images became increasingly fragmented and pragmatic.

She explains her work with this quote, " Around 1955, my canvases literally splintered...I broke the mirror, you might say."

Her artwork has been exhibited in numerous one-person shows in France, Sweden, and London as well as the United States. In 1992,  The New York Library had a showing of her prints and in 2000, The Philadelphia Art Museum held an exhibition of her work. 

  After returning to the United States, Dorothea found her voice and began writing poetry and short stories, which were widely published in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, and The Yale Review.

In an interview for Salon.com and asked, "So what have you tried to communicate as an artist?

She replied, "I'd be satisfied in suggesting that there is more than meets the eye."

In 1997, The Dorothea Tanning Foundation was established with the purpose of preserving the artist's legacy while fostering a broader, public understanding of the artist's art, writing, and poetry. They manage and distribute the art and asset of Dorothea for philanthropic purposes.

"The diversity pf experience and attitude on the part of women artists active in Surrealism has proved both an obstacle and a challenge. In the end, I came to view such diversity as a tribute to these women, an attribution to their strength and a mark of their commitment to a form of creative expression in which personal reality dominates".

 Dorethea died in her home in New York City on January 31, 2012. She was 101 years old. She had just published her second collection of poems called, "Coming To That".

ALL HALLOWS EVE

by Dorothe Tanning

Be perfect, make it otherwise. 

Yesterday is torn in shreds.

Lightnings thousand sulfur eyes

Rip apart the breathing beds.

Her bones crack and pulverize.

Doom creeps in on rubber treads.

Countless overwrought housewives,

Minds unraveling like threads,

Try lipstick shades to tranquilize

Fears of age and general dreads.

Sit tight, be perfect, swat the spies,

Don't take faucets for fountainheads.

Drink tasty antidotes.  Otherwise

You and the werewolf: Newlyweds.

Now it is your turn to immerse yourself in the style of Dorothea Tanning and create your own Surrealist art piece! This is the first artist I have showcased that did not have a tragic life circumstance that influenced her artistic style!! Her life is as described as..."She breathed words as well as air and looked at her paintings in amazement"!

Here is my Dorothea Tanning Creations:

Digital art created from Gecko Galz Free Images and DreamPrint Fusion Digital Kit Daydream Escapes

PROTAGONIST POLLACK

Study of the Masters continued:

This week we are going to dive into the legacy of 

Jackson Pollack!

Jackson Pollock was an American painter who was a leading exponent of Abstract Expressionism. He is also one of the first American painters to be recognized as a Master of Modern Art. He was widely publicized for and received serious recognition for the radical poured or "dripped" technique he used to create his major works.

Jackson Pollock was not without his various demons which also contributed to his deeply personal and uncompromising commitment to painting.  He was described as gentle and contemplative when sober, violent when drunk. These extremes found a equilibrium in his art.

Pollock was his own worst enemy. He was an alcoholic and suffered from major depression. At his brother's insistence, he saw a psychoanalyst who suggested to him that he would benefit from the concepts of Carl Jung and use that in his artwork as therapy. He was motivated and inspired to use those concepts for the rest of his painting career. He moved to New York City and worked at the WPA Federal Art Project.  He signed a gallery contract with Peggy Gugenheim and was commissioned to paint a 8 x20 foot painting, Mural, for her entryway in her townhouse. This marked an important transitional point in Pollock's artistic career.

He met and married Lee Krasner and with her extensive knowledge and training in modern art, brought Pollock up to date on what contemporary art should be. She was responsible for introducing him to many collectors, critics and artist of his time. It was her judgement of his work that he trusted above all others. it has been said there would never have been Jackson Pollock without Lee Pollock. 

Pollock being the reclusive type, chose to move to the country in Spring City, New York. where he would go on to create his greatest work. This place is where he refined his technique of painting and discovered his famous "drip" method. 

Sadly, to note, he and Lee divorced years later as his infidelities and alcoholism became more than she could bare.

And yet, in this idyllic place, he wrestled with his demons and his critics daily. His work was fresh and provocative but his name was not among the critical work of the artists who had gained a prominent position in the world of art. Fame eluded him. His critics viewed his art as mere unorganized explosions of random energy and therefore meaningless...saying "this is not art---this is a joke in bad taste." And still in spite of what was being said of his work, he continued to fuel his passion to paint.

He discovered his "drip" technique by accident 

as he was painting one day and unintentionally splattered paint on the canvas. He used hardened brushes, sticks, and even basting syringes to create the effect he desired. He used the force of his whole body to paint. Pollock would move energetically around his canvas almost as if he were in a dance and would not stop until he saw what he wanted to see.

He was quoted as saying, " When I am in my painting, I am not aware of what I am doing. I have no fear of making changes, destroying images, because the painting has a life of its own. There is a pure harmony, an easy give and take, and the painting comes out well."

Life Magazine did a four-page spread of his work which finally brought him the acclaimed notoriety he was looking for. In the article they gave him the name "Jack the Dripper". 

In 1950, Hans Namuth, a young photographer filmed Pollack while he was painting to give people a view of how the now famous art was created. 

He said after the experience, "He completely forgot I was there. He did not even hear the click of the camara. He painted for a half an hour. He did not stop. How could one keep up that level of activity? Finally, Pollock looked up and said, this is it." 

In 1956, Pollock was killed in a tragic automobile accident caused by driving under the influence of alcohol. The accident happened less than a mile from his house. 

He became a model of an artist that successfully fused art with life. He believed that art was derived from the subconscious and saw himself the essential subject of his paintings. He judged his work on its inherent authenticity of personal expression.

Here is my Jackson Pollock Creation:

I found as I was creating this art piece there was no particular rules to follow and as I continued adding color and digitally "dripped" the images, a pattern began to form as if on its own. I have never created art like this before and found it very liberating, and as Pollock would have said himself, "the technique was very free and subconsciously flowing"! 

I hope you experience the same feeling as I did when you create your own Pollock Masterpiece. I cannot wait to see what you will come up with!