Max Ernst - A Leader of Irrationality in Art
Monday, April 23, 2012 at 11:00AM 
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.