Max Ernst: Experimentation

Max Ernst - Summer Night in Arizona - 1944 - Oil on canvas - 11 x 17 in. - Gift of Mrs. Julien Levy, 1983.1507 - Art Institute of Chicago (click photo for larger image)German born painter Max Ernst (1891-1976) spent most of his life in France, creating both Dada and Surrealist works. Ernst one of the leading advocates of irrationality in art, and an originator of the Automatism movement of Surrealism. Automatism--a technique used for exploring the creative force of the unconscious in art was begun by the Surrealist poets, who tried writing in a hypnotic, trancelike state. The technique was heavily influence by Freudian theory--and eventually was explored by visual artists.

Francis Picabia - An Explorer

Francis Picabia - Hera, c. 1929, oil on cardboard, 105 × 75 cm. - Private collectionThere are some artists who prefer to remain working in those styles for which they’re best known--while others continue to explore new approaches and evolve stylistically over the course of their careers. French painter Francis Picabia (1879-1953) was an artist who enjoyed experimentation, and is therefore associated with the Modern movements of Cubism, Orphism, Abstract Art, Dada, and Surrealism--among others.

Max Ernst - A Leader of Irrationality in Art

Max Ernst, Zoomorphic Couple (Couple zoomorphe), 1933. Oil on canvas, 91.9 x 73.3 cm. - Peggy Guggenheim Collection. 76.2553 PG 75. Max Ernst © 2003 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris (click photo for larger image)Max Ernst was born in Brühl, Germany. In 1910, he enrolled in the University at Bonn to study philosophy and psychology, but soon abandoned school to pursue his interest in art. In 1914 he, traveled to the Montparnasse Quarter in Paris, where artists from around the world were gathering. It was the seat of the avant-garde.

In 1919, Ernst visited the artist Paul Klee and created his first paintings, block prints and collages, and experimented with mixed media.

Following his service in World War I, he was filled with new ideas. With Jean Arp and the social activist, Alfred Grünwald, Ernst formed the Cologne, Germany Dada group. But two years later, in 1922, he returned to the artistic community at Montparnasse in Paris.

Constantly experimenting, in 1925 he invented frottage, a technique using pencil rubbings of objects. The next year he collaborated with Joan Miró on designs for Sergei Diaghilev. With Miró's help, Ernst pioneered grattage in which he troweled pigment from his canvases. Apart from developing new techniques--Ernst hac a real taste in--and flair for--the bizarre.

The Movement of Picasso

Pablo Picasso The Old Fisherman (Salmereon) 1895, Museu de Montserrat, Barcelona

Whenever I revisit the works of Pablo Picasso I discover new aspects and elements to his art and am in awe of his perpetual evolution. In surveys of Modern Art, I tell students that the broadest, most well-known movements within the period are Fauvism, Cubism, Expressionism, Dada, Surrealism, and Picasso. He cannot be categorized--and he influenced virtually all of his contemporaries, as well as the artists of later generations. His influence continues to be felt today One of my favorite class exercises is to show slides of 8 or 10 paintings--none of them with captions underneath--and ask students to try and name the artists who created these works. They come up with all kinds of answers. But...the answer is that all of the paintings I show were created by Picasso. Who would have thought--for example--that the painting shown here is a Picasso?