The Surrealists: Max Ernst and Joan Miro

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The Surrealists Max Ernst and Joan Miro
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• Max Ernst

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Max Ernst Early Life

• B. 1891 in Brühl, Germany.
• Enrolled in the University of Bonn to study
  philosophy, art history, psychology and
  literature in 1909
• Decided to become a painter in 1911
• Became involved with the artists surrounding
  August Macke, an expressionist painter
• Exhibited for the first time in 1912 with Mackes
  group, Die Rheinischen Expressionisten (The
  Rhineland Expressionists)

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Max Ernst Early L ife (cont.)

• Wrote art criticism for the newspaper Volksmund
  in the summer and fall of 1912
• Enlisted in the Twenty-third Field Artillery
  Regiment in Koblenz on August 24, 1914.
• Served from July 1915 to March 1916 in the
  artillery division
• Suffered minor head and hand injuries
• Granted a military leave of absence and exhibited
  over fifty works in a two man exhibit in January
  1916.

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Dada Years

• Exhibit entitled Max Ernst George Muche
• Continued to publish articles on art during the
  war
• Married Luise Amelie Straus, an art historian on
  October 17, 1918
• Settled in Cologne in 1918
• Created and led the Cologne Dada group with
  Johannes Theodor Baargeld in autumn 1919
• Produced first collages in 1919

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Ernst in military uniform, c. 1914-1918
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Fatagaga 1920
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Le Limacon de Chambre 1920
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Un peu malade le cheval patte pelu.. 1920
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Dada Years (cont.)

• Dada A western Europe artistic and literary
  movement (1916-23) that sought the discovery of
  authentic reality through the abolition of
  traditional culture and aesthetic forms.
• Cologne Dadaists experimented with photomontage,
  use of everyday objects as artistic materials,
  and incoherent juxtapositions
• On April 12, 1920 Ernst Baargeld published Die
  Schammade, a major publication of the Cologne
  Dadaists

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Dada Years (cont.)

• Ernst was the center of the Cologne Dada
  movement, and called himself Dada Ernst
• Believed that Dada had an honest side under its
  absurdity
• Organized a 1920 exhibit of his collages at the
  Au Sans Pareil bookstore
• In 1920 a Dada exhibit was closed by the Cologne
  police on grounds of obscenity
• The charges were eventually dropped and the
  exhibit was reopened

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Dada siegt! 1920
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New Techniques

• Ernsts son Ulrich was born on June 24, 1920
• Ernst moved to Paris (abandoning his wife and
  child) in 1922 and began to paint reliefs
• Reliefs Projections of figures or forms from a
  flat background, as in sculpture, or the apparent
  projection of such shapes in a painting or
  drawing.
• Ernst collaborated with poet Paul Eluard on a
  book of poetry and collages called The
  Misfortunes of the Immortals.
• Book released on July 25, 1922

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Au rendez-vous des amis 1922
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Two Children Are Threatened by a Nightingale.
1924
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New Techniques

• In the summer of 1925 Ernst perfected his
  frottage technique
• In this technique, Ernst first rubbed paper with
  black lead.
• He next applied layers of paint, with the darkest
  layer last.
• Ernst them scraped away the layers to reveal the
  lightest color.

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The Forest, 1927,-1928
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Ernst demonstrating his frottage technique, 1963
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New Techniques

• Ernst also employed his own version of
  Decalcomania developed by surrealist painter
  Oscar Dominguez.
• In this technique, paper or paint was applied to
  the surface of glass, and then peeled away.
• Most surrealists left the spontaneous design
  untouched, but Ernst modified his pieces to show
  cities, forests, and animal forms.

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Later Years

• Over the next few years Ernst would experiment
  with some of his favorite themes
• Torn shapes, bird-people, transfigured forests or
  cities, apparitions and landscaped of crystals
  and shells.
• Ernst was accused of spying and interned at a
  camp in Milles, but managed to escape to New
  York.

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Later Years (cont.)

• While in New York, Ernst contributed to the
  drip style of painting that would be used in
  the future by abstract expressionists
• Ernst lives in Arizona until 1949 with his new
  wife, Dorothea Tanning
• He sculpted and painted deserts with crystalline
  structures
• Ernst accepted a prize in painting from the
  Venice Biennale in 1954

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Ernst with wife Dorothea Tanning, 1948
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Europe After the Rain, 1940-1942
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Later Years (cont.)

• Ernst returned to France in 1953, and by this
  time had acquired international acclaim
• His later work included collages made from
  everyday objects such as lace, cages, and
  blowtorches, frottages, and bronze sculptures.
• Ernst died on April 1, 1976.