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Rajesh Punjabi GR.

616 - Making Ideas Visible Influences Max Ernst Born on the 2nd of April in 1891 in Germany, Max Ernst was the son of the Luise nee Knopp and Philipp Ernst, an amatuer painter. Intrigued by the art of his father, Ernst began to create paintings of his own. His interest in art continued to grow as he studied art history, literature, philosophy, psychology and psychiatry while attending the University of Bonn from 1910 to 1914. During his time there Ernst had the opportunity to visit several asylums where he discovered the art that was done by some of the mentally ill patients. It was during his time at the university that he began to paint and display his work as a member of the artist group, Die Rheinischen Expressionisten. In 1914 Ernst befriended Jean (Hans) Arp in Cologne, Germany and that same year, after graduation, Ernst was drafted into the army during World War I. While he continued to indulge his desire to create art, the opportunities were very limited at best. In fact he is believed to have referred to himself as dead during that time and resurrected in 1918, when his term of service had concluded. He then returned to Cologne where he settled down and married his former classmate Luise Straus. In 1918 Ernst traveled to Munich where he studied the paintings of Giorgio de Chirico, a greek surrealist. This inspired Ernst to produce collages and in the following year Ernst founded the Cologne Dada Group alongside Johannes Theodor Baargeld. The group had several exhibitions of their artworks where Ernst displayed Fruit of a Long Experience, and Hat Makes the Man (Figures 1.1 and 1.2). Max Ernst and Luise Straus would give birth to their son Ulrich Ernst on June 24th, 1920. A year later Ernst sold several of his works including Celebes (Figure 1.3). to Paul Eluard who compiled them into his collection of poetry entitled Repetitions. Ernst would then continue his collaborations with Les malheurs des immortels with Eluard and Litterature with Andre Breton. He would then proceed to leave his wife and child and move to France with Paul and Gala Eluard and other colleagues in 1922 where he would create A Reunion of Friends, and Men Shall Know Nothing of This (Figures 1.4 and 1.5). Ernst began to identify with the Surrealists and became a pioneer in the movement with techniques such as frottage, the use of pencil rubbings of objects, and grattage, scraping paint across canvas to reveal imprints of object placed beneath. These techniques were made famous by Ernsts Histoire Naturelle and Forest and Dove (Figure 1.6). It was also during this time that Loplop, an alter-ego that Ernst developed in the form of a bird, would make several appearances in his artwork including The Angel of Hearth and Home (Figure 1.7) At the start of World War II in 1939 Ernst was placed in prison and declared an undesirable foreigner. He would be released after a few weeks, thanks to efforts made by Paul Eluard, only to be detained once again by the Gestapo following the occupation of France by the Nazis. With the help of Peggy Guggenheim he managed to escape to New York City in 1941. The two were married in 1942 until 1946, when Ernst moved to Arizona and married Dorothea Tanning. Ernst returned to France in 1953 with Tanning until his death in Paris on April 1st, 1976. Just one day before turning 85.

Figure 1.1 Figure 1.2 Figure 1.3 Figure 1.4 Figure 1.5 Figure 1.6 Figure 1.7

(Pg 2, Top Left) Max Ernst. Fruit of a Long Experience. 1919. Painted wood relief. 45.7 x 38 cm. Private collection (Pg 2, Top Right) Max Ernst. Hat Makes the Man. 1920. Gouache, Pencil, Collage, and Pen & Ink on board. 35.6 x 45.7 cm. Museum of Modern Art, New York City. (Pg 2, Bottom Left) Max Ernst. Celebes. 1921. Oil on Canvas. 125.4 cm 107.9 cm. Tate Gallery, London (Pg 2, Bottom Right) Max Ernst. A Friends Reunion/Au Rendez-vous des amis. 1922. Oil on canvas. 130 x 95. Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany (Pg 3, Top Left) Max Ernst. Of This Men Shall Know Nothing. 1923. Oil on Canvas. 81 x 64 cm. Tate Gallery, London, UK (Pg 3, Top Right) Max Ernst. Forest and Dove. 1927. Oil on Canvas. 100 x 82 cm. Tate Gallery, London, UK (Pg 3, Bottom) Max Ernst. The Angel of Hearth and Home. 1937. Oil on canvas. 53 x 73 cm. Staatsgalerie Moderner Kunst, Munich, Germany.

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