Writing in third person Ernst said that “A painter is lost if he finds himself. Max Ernst consider his soul
virtue to be that he has manages not the find himself"
Ernst attacked the conventional traditional art, instead of
producing beautiful pieces with clear story embedded in them he creates non-
respresenational work, without a clear narrative. He mocked religious icons,
exploring his inner thoughts and dream like imagery to order to discover a new
way of communicating ideas, in a wat to make the audience think for
themselves.
He was deeply interested in the the art of the mentally ill,
their primal emotions that hadn’t been influenced or contained by other
peoples, but were pure, meaning their creativity was unfettered. Max Ernst was of
very few who applies the Sigmund Freud dream theory, which investigated deep
thoughts in order to explore his creativity. Ernst wanted to explore his
creative mind even further, so he painted his dreams and personal war traumas
which formed his basic subject matters. This form of art is also known as
automatic painting, producing what you emote.
 |
| Fig 1- Max Ernst- City With Animals- 1919 |
At the beginning of 1919, Ernst explored the use of collage,
inspired by Hannah Hoch and John Heartfield. He used a variety of materials
including illustrated catalogs, journal which he edited and some manuals that
produced a somewhat futuristic image, allowing him to create his very own world
of dreams and fantasy, which eventually helped heal his personal issues and
trauma. In his autobiography ‘Tissue of `Truth- Tissue of Lies’ 1962, he
commented that its “so remote that the sheer absurdity if that collection
provoked a sudden intensification of the visionary faculties in me”
 |
| Fig 2- Max Ernst- 'The Chinese Nightingale' 1920 (photomontage) |
In Hans Richter’s experimental film of 1947- Dreams That
Money Can Buy, Ernst used a technique known as oscillation. This is where you
puncture holes in the bottom of a can of paint, and swinging it around to
create curved of paint.
Enst asos experimented with Decalcomania. This involved
laying paper or glass over a painted surface and them which removed quickly
created suction, pulling at the paint forming a scaly biomorphic texture. This
technique is demonstrated in Ernst painting ‘Europe After the Rain’ (1940-42)-
a reflection of his war experiences.
 |
| Fig 3- Max Ernst |
In response to Max Ernts decalcomania technic, I decided to have a go for myself. On shiny sticky back plastic I added, fairly heavily some acrylic paint, I then sandwiched this with another sheet of paper, whilst doing this I pushed the paint around with my finger tips. By removing the pages quicker I created a strange textured print, however because the paint I was using was fairly thick, I tried out a few versions with different kinds of paint, I added glue to acrylic paint to make it more discos, which worked well, but the best result came from using watercolour tube paint, which was fairly viscous and gave a transparent look to the print. I created lots of examples added textures on top of prints to created different effects. But i found the most effective results came with simplisty, simple colours and only one layer worked the best.
After printing I wanted to work into my prints, but the colour was to bright and bold, meaning my drawings wouldn't be visible. So using photoshop I colourised the prints so they were all one colour, but the texture still remained.
This was an interesting exercise, it allowed my creativity in finding shapes in patens to thrive. I think this would be a great exercise if you are trying to create abstract shapes, and are struggling to know what shapes to find, as well as creating some interesting textures to use.
- Fig 2- Artyfactory.com. (2016). Dadaism - Art and Anti Art. [online] Available at: http://www.artyfactory.com/art_appreciation/art_movements/dadaism.htm [Accessed 3 Dec. 2016].
- Fig 3- Artofthemystic.deviantart.com. (2016). Decalcomania Swamp. [online] Available at: http://artofthemystic.deviantart.com/art/Decalcomania-Swamp-53646994 [Accessed 3 Dec. 2016].
Bibliography
- Artofthemystic.deviantart.com. (2016). Decalcomania Swamp. [online] Available at: http://artofthemystic.deviantart.com/art/Decalcomania-Swamp-53646994 [Accessed 3 Dec. 2016].
- Artsy.net. (2016). Max Ernst | Fleurs de neige (Snow Flowers) (1929) | Artsy. [online] Available at: https://www.artsy.net/artwork/max-ernst-fleurs-de-neige-snow-flowers [Accessed 3 Dec. 2016].
- Artyfactory.com. (2016). Dadaism - Art and Anti Art. [online] Available at: http://www.artyfactory.com/art_appreciation/art_movements/dadaism.htm [Accessed 3 Dec. 2016].
- Carpetmoss.files.wordpress.com. (2016). Cite a Website - Cite This For Me. [online] Available at: https://carpetmoss.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/forest-and-sun-1931-graphite-frottage-on-paper.jpg [Accessed 3 Dec. 2016].
- CNN. (2016). CNN - Breaking News, U.S., World, Weather, Entertainment & Video News. [online] Available at: http://edition.cnn.com [Accessed 3 Dec. 2016].
- Jones, J. and Colman, D. (2016). Open Culture - The Best Free Cultural and Educational Media on the Web.. [online] Open Culture. Available at: http://www.openculture.com [Accessed 3 Dec. 2016].
- Max-ernst.com. (2016). City with Animal, 1919 - by Max Ernst. [online] Available at: http://www.max-ernst.com/city-with-animals.jsp [Accessed 3 Dec. 2016].
- resources/glossary/f/frottage [Accessed 3 Dec. 2016].
- Smart.co.uk. (2016). Websites from SMART. [online] Available at: http://www.smart.co.uk [Accessed 3 Dec. 2016].
- Tate.org.uk. (2016). Frottage. [online] Available at: http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-
- Thewanderlife.com. (2016). Sedona, ARIZONA - Max Ernst's imagined landscapes | The Wander Life. [online] Available at: http://thewanderlife.com/sedona-arizona-imagined-landscapes/ [Accessed 3 Dec. 2016].
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