Image. Max Ernst in Photographs

Image. Max Ernst in Photographs

Next to Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol, Max Ernst (1891–1976) is one of the most photographed artist personalities of the 20th century. He was portrayed under various circumstances and in a variety of contexts. Private snapshots, classic portraits and posed arrangements with artist friends tell of his multifaceted personality and his colourful artist life.

The spectrum of the around 150 selected images, which originated at various times and occasions, provide a photographic perspective on his life, which was marked by his personal experience of two world wars and historical upheavals, by changes of location and his involvement with the group of Dadaists and Surrealists, first in the Rhineland, then in Paris, later in exile in the USA, as well as in Europe.

The photographs illustrate his artistic processes, but also focus on the personality of Max Ernst or they reflect his relationships with women artists such as Leonora Carrington and Dorothea Tanning. The technical possibilities of the medium and the individual perspectives of the respective photographers reveal not only the pure physical appearance, but also convey much of the artist's character as well as his desire for self-representation and self-dramatization.

The exhibition presents the extensive collection holdings of the museum, for the first time including an endowment of the artist Dorothea Tanning, the fourth wife of Max Ernst. With photographs from, among others, Berenice Abbott, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Yousuf Karsh, Robert Lebeck, Lee Miller, Arnold Newman, Irving Penn, Edward Quinn and Man Ray the show is dedicated to the question of the artist's image. The image evolves through both, the own way of depicting oneself as well as, and above all, through the gaze of others through the camera lens.

The photographs of Max Ernst in the circle of his artist friends extend from informal snapshots to representative group portraits and often reflect the character of the gatherings. In seemingly spontaneous views during holidays from the Dada period and carefully composed arrangements, the conditions of the medium are played with, sometimes in an ironic way. On the other hand, classic portraits like a group photo on the occasion of the New York exhibition Artists in Exile visualise the sense of community and solidarity among the artists who had recently found themselves in American exile. The assured, self-confident posture assumed by each of the individuals at the same time conveys the challenge and the wish to renegotiate and establish their own positions in the art metropolis following the drastic upheavals of the 1940s.

Distinctive profile views, objective and sober images and self-confident stagings – the representation of Max Ernst from the perspective of various photographers influences the perception of the artist in various ways. Not only the will to self-styling of Max Ernst is expressed in the images but also the expert and experimental approaches of the photographers to the possibilities of the medium. Thus, the theatrical light direction in an image of Berenice Abbott or the solarisation technique of Man Ray lend the artist his very own, highly expressive aura. The images of Man Ray, which are also repeatedly shown in other contexts, occupy a special position among the portraits of Max Ernst. Thus, for example, a photograph from 1929 was integrated into Man Ray’s later photo collage Surrealist Chessboard, a programmatic group photo of the Surrealists.

The studio as a mysterious place for creative work offers insights into the work methods, the materials and the interaction of the artist with his works. Yousuf Karsh, one of the most trend-setting portrait photographers of the 20th century, and Lord Snowdon created poignant images in the 1960s that adopt the theme of the proximity between the work and the artist. Other photographers like Karlheinz Bauer, Robert Lebeck, Alexander Liberman or Edward Quinn developed portrait sequences and documentary images during their visits to Huismes, Paris and Seillans that couldn’t present Max Ernst more differently: sometimes shown almost inconspicuous in his spacious studio, sometimes as a self-confident presence in his smock or working dynamically, the creative potential and creativity of the artist are emphasised. Other images in turn clearly show the many literary and cultural sources of inspiration that influenced his work.

Public occasions like exhibitions, receptions, tributes to the artist or presentations of his works outdoors drew the attention of many photographers and journalists to Max Ernst with his growing recognition as of the 1950s. In 1971, images from the perspectives of Willi Frommberger, Anita Kloten and Helmut Weingarten originated during his visit to the Rhineland, for example, on the occasion of the dedication of a fountain and the presentation of the first Max Ernst Scholarship in Brühl, the town in which he was born, or at the ceremonial unveiling of the large Habakkuk sculpture in front of the Kunsthalle Düsseldorf. Photographs by Ingeborg Sello, Digne Meller Marcovicz or Anita Kloten paid special attention to the facial expressions and gestures of the artist. The presentation of an honorary doctorate of the University of Bonn to Max Ernst in 1972 was also photographically documented. Mostly surrounded by prominent personages from the cultural and political realms, such as the German Chancellor of the time, Willy Brandt, or the German President Gustav Heinemann, the images demonstrate the status of the artist, who was already internationally renowned within his lifetime.

Images of Max Ernst with his partners and wives provide insight into the private life of the artist, which was characterised by historic upheavals and many changes of location. Many of his companions were themselves artistically active or networked with the art scene of the time. Thus, his first wife, Luise Straus, who held a doctorate in art history, introduced him to the Cologne Dada group. A cool, sober portrait by August Sander shows Luise Straus-Ernst in 1928 with their son Jimmy in the style of New Objectivity. Images of the American photographer Lee Miller, with whom Max Ernst maintained a friendship of many years after 1929, have a personal character and provide insight into his (love) life, which was defined by creativity. Thanks to the personal selection, the photo album of the British artist Leonora Carrington offers alternative access to the time shared with Max Ernst in Saint-Martin-d’Ardèche in Southern France. As a result of the individual arrangement, childhood memories are iconoclastically interwoven with impressions from life in the circles of the artistic avant garde and her relationship with Max Ernst. Iconic dual portraits by John Kasnetsis or Irving Penn in turn effectively emphasise the artist couple of Max Ernst and Dorothea Tanning.

In 1946, Dorothea Tanning and Max Ernst moved to Arizona and built their own home on a rise in the small desert town of Sedona. Max Ernst was fascinated by the landscape, with its red mesas and bizarre rock formations, as well as by the rites and cult objects of the Hopi and Zuni peoples living there. Amidst the rough nature of Arizona, which became his new main place of residence until 1951, impressive images were created by, among others, Lee Miller or Frederick Sommer, whose photographs play with the various modes of reality, entirely in keeping with the spirit of Surrealism. Dorothea Tanning also created a photo portrait of her husband, in which she made use of superimposition as an artistic medium. The canyon landscape of Sedona, the walls of the wooden house, the large Kwakiutl figure integrated into it and a mask frieze by Max Ernst thereby merge into a shadowy, unreal scenery.

Max Ernst and Dorothea Tanning moved to a country home in Huismes, not far from the Loire in Touraine, in 1955. They christened their new home “Le pin perdu”. Max Ernst, who had acquired an international reputation, not least through being awarded the grand prize of the Biennale in Venice in 1954, was photographed several times there in the studio or in the garden over the course of the 1950s and 1960s. Young, up-and-coming photographers were also granted access to his place of residence in individual cases. The photographer, painter and textile artist Helmut Hahn thus visited him in 1957 at the intercession of the Cologne-based gallery owner couple Hein and Eva Stünke and entered into an inspiring, artistically influential exchange with him. The images, which were to serve as preparations for an ultimately unrealised documentary film about Max Ernst, expertly combine the work of the artist with elements of his everyday environment. The balls of a boules game are thus brought together with his bronze figure The King Playing with the Queen. Hahn’s nature views, which he captured photographically around Huismes with a pronounced sense for the unique features of natural structures and textures, ultimately demonstrate interesting parallels with the pictorial worlds of Max Ernst.