Max ErnstFrench, 1891–1976Helio Alcohodada
May one see it?
Not receiving at present
New York, United States
It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.
- Checked
- Source
- The museum
Particulars
- Accession number
- 819.1969
In the catalog
Sources
- The Museum of Modern Art
- Image: The Museum of Modern Art — © the artist or rights holder
Meanwhile, in the life of Max Ernst
The whole life1914–1918
A soldier of the First World War: “died and resurrected”
Ernst was drafted and served on both the Western and the Eastern Fronts; the war devastated him, and in his autobiography he wrote that he died on 1 August 1914 and was resurrected on 11 November 1918. Several German Expressionists, among them August Macke and Franz Marc, died in action.
1919
The founding of the Cologne Dada group
In 1919 Ernst, the social activist Johannes Baargeld and several colleagues founded the Cologne Dada group; in 1919–20 they published short-lived magazines such as Der Strom and die Schammade and organised Dada exhibitions. The same year Ernst made his first collages, from mail-order catalogues and teaching-aid manuals, a technique that long dominated his work.
1919
Baargeld, Klee, de Chirico
In 1919 Ernst met Johannes Baargeld in Cologne and Paul Klee in Munich, and saw reproductions of Giorgio de Chirico’s metaphysical paintings in the magazine Valori Plastici; inspired by them he produced the portfolio of eight lithographs Fiat modes — pereat ars.
November 1919
A Dada exhibition and the confiscated posters
In November 1919 Ernst and Baargeld staged a Dada exhibition showing, besides their own work and that of their friend Otto Freundlich, works by amateur artists and inmates of psychiatric institutions. The posters and catalogues were confiscated by the British occupation authorities.
April 1920
“Dada Early Spring”: a scandal and a break with his father
In April 1920 the exhibition Dada Early Spring opened in the Winter beer hall (Hans Arp had joined Ernst and Baargeld): enraged visitors demanded that the objects offending public order be removed. The next day Ernst received a telegram from his father disowning him, a final break with the family: he never saw his father again.
late autumn 1921
Paul and Gala Éluard in Cologne
In late autumn 1921 Paul and Gala Éluard visited Ernst in Cologne: he and Éluard became firm friends and Gala posed for him. Éluard bought the artist’s most finished canvas, Celebes, and chose a dozen collages to illustrate his collection Répétitions.
