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Lot Essay
Max Ernst (1891 – 1976) was a German (naturalized American in 1948 and French in 1958) painter, sculptor, printmaker, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was a primary pioneer of the Dada movement and Surrealism in Europe. He had no formal artistic training, which undoubtedly informed his innovative and experimental artistic practice. Ernst created illustrated books throughout his career, and his work in this medium was highly influential. They were often collaborations with writers and poets, including Paul Éluard and André Breton, who were also associated with the Surrealist movement. The books typically featured Ernst's distinctive imagery, which often combined elements of collage and drawing to create surreal and dreamlike compositions.
The present work, 65 Maximiliana or the Illegal Practice of Astronomy (65 Maximiliana ou l'exercice illégal de l'astronomie), one of his most important illustrated books, was a ‘collaboration between the artist and Iliazd (Il’ia Zdanevich), a Georgian-born book designer and publisher. The title refers to a planetoid discovered in 1861 by the unsung German astronomer Ernst Wilhelm Tempel (1821-1889), who named it Maximiliana 65, in honor of Maximilian II, then king of Bavaria. Ernst’s text and biomorphic aquatints pay homage to Tempel as a kindred spirit seeking to represent domains outside ordinary human perception; they are complemented by the typography that Iliazd designed to float, constellation-like, across each page. Ernst also added a hieroglyphic script of his own invention to many of the pages.’
(Gallery label from Max Ernst: Beyond Painting, September 23, 2017-January 1, 2018., Museum of Modern Art, New York)
The present work, 65 Maximiliana or the Illegal Practice of Astronomy (65 Maximiliana ou l'exercice illégal de l'astronomie), one of his most important illustrated books, was a ‘collaboration between the artist and Iliazd (Il’ia Zdanevich), a Georgian-born book designer and publisher. The title refers to a planetoid discovered in 1861 by the unsung German astronomer Ernst Wilhelm Tempel (1821-1889), who named it Maximiliana 65, in honor of Maximilian II, then king of Bavaria. Ernst’s text and biomorphic aquatints pay homage to Tempel as a kindred spirit seeking to represent domains outside ordinary human perception; they are complemented by the typography that Iliazd designed to float, constellation-like, across each page. Ernst also added a hieroglyphic script of his own invention to many of the pages.’
(Gallery label from Max Ernst: Beyond Painting, September 23, 2017-January 1, 2018., Museum of Modern Art, New York)