Max Ernst: A Retrospective (Metropolitan Museum of Art Publications)
Category: Books,Arts & Photography,History & Criticism
Max Ernst: A Retrospective (Metropolitan Museum of Art Publications) Details
From Booklist Innovative painter and collagist Max Ernst (1891-1976) was a driving force behind Dada and surrealism and set the course for abstract expressionism. His rich and complex oeuvre is now fruitfully reexamined in this illuminating volume in which splendid full-page reproductions are matched with eye-opening essays by Ernst expert Spies, curator Rewald, and art historian Robert Storr, among others, each offering striking interpretations of key aspects of Ernst's imaginative creative journey. Considered a "scholarly painter," Ernst drew on everything from mythology to Freudian theory to poetry to science. Born and raised in Germany, he found his artistic milieu in Paris, where he created his seminal collage "novels" until World War II forced him into exile. Secured a place in America by his third wife, gallery owner Peggy Guggenheim, Ernst, working steadily, ended up in Arizona with artist Dorothea Tanning and eventually returned to France. Imaginative, productive, caustically witty, fierce, and enigmatic, Ernst, a master of commanding lines and earthy textures, created an ever--metamorphosing dreamworld in which ferocity and beauty intertwine in a potent vision of life's paradoxes and magic. Donna SeamanCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Read more Review "[A] comprehensive, well-illustrated catalogue." -- Bobbie Leigh, Art & Antiques Read more Book Description Max Ernst, a pivotal figure in the history of twentieth-century art, was an important innovator in the Dada and Surrealist movements. This book accompanies the first retrospective of Ernst’s work held in America in thirty years and takes a look at the life of the artist and his pioneering accomplishments in painting, sculpture, collage, and in particular his unique collage novels. Read more About the Author Werner Spies is an Ernst scholar and art critic. Read more
Reviews
Max Ernst was always one of those painters who resided on the periphery of my consciousness, who I never bothered to fully investigate. Probably because I put him, mistakenly, in the same category as Magritte, a painter who I know was important in the annals of art history but didn't reach me on a visceral level. As I am interested in art and artists in general I had the "Max Ernst" DVD on my Netflix list and one Sunday afternoon, having nothing better to do, I decided to watch it. I immediately fell in love with his paintings and was fascinated by his life. I searched Amazon and this book seemed to contain the best representation of his work. I was a little disconcerted with some of the reviews regarding the quality of the images. But as another reviewer stated, images in a book will never match the original art. As I have not, unfortunately, seen too many any of his paintings up close and personal this is not a problem for me. I find the quality to be quite adequate. Since acquiring the book it has become bedtime reading for me and I am thoroughly enjoying it. The first half of the book is an overview of his life and work, the second half is the catalog of the exhibit.