The Late Max Ernst

Below are images of some more paintings by Max Ernst (1891-1976). Once again, I have lifted them from my copy of Edward Quinn’s 1977 monograph on the artist. These are an arbitrary selection of paintings from the artist’s old age…

The first two pictures, those immediately above and below, were painted in 1965. The previous year, Ernst and his wife Dorothea Tanning had moved from Paris to a house at Seillans, in the South of France. 1965 saw Ernst return to the collage technique for the first time in many years.

In 1969, Ernst was painting abstract canvases, like the one below, and was meanwhile producing collage-based graphic works. The same year, a large retrospective exhibition of his works was staged in Stockholm.

A painter may know what he does not want. But woe betide him if he wants to know what he does not want! A painter is lost if he finds himself.

The fact that he has succeeded in not finding himself is regarded by Max Ernst as his only ‘achievement’ - Max Ernst, 1967.

Even as an octogenarian, Ernst continued to work, busy on series of lithographs, collages and paintings. In 1972 he was awarded an honourary doctorate by the University of Bonn, where he had studied between 1910 and 1914. The final three paintings shown here were all completed in 1974. Max Ernst died in Paris on April 1st 1976.

If you like these pictures, and can make it to New York between April 7th and July 10th this year, then you should check out the exhibition planned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art which will feature 180 of Ernst’s paintings, collages, drawings, sculptures, and illustrated books.

Click on the images to see them enlarged…

Posted by misteraitch at January 2, 2005 10:57 AM | TrackBack