Max Ernst

Max Ernst * (Brühl 1891–1976 Paris) La pyramide infernale, circa 1920, monogrammed me, ink on paper, 23 x 16 cm, framed, (PP) Provenance: Galleria Ciranna, Milan (verso adhesive label) Private Collection, Italy Exhibition: Albori del Surrealismo nei disegni di Max Ernst, Galleria Ciranna, Milan, February 1964, exh. cat. with ill., no page details or numbering Specialist: Mag. Patricia Pálffy

Lot Description Max Ernst (1891-1976) Temptation of St. Anthony signed, dated and titled 'max ernst 1945 Temptation of St. Anthony (sketch)' (on the reverse) oil on canvas 10 1/8 x 6 in. (25.8 x 15.3 cm.) Painted in 1945 Provenance William S. Lieberman, New York (by 1960). Little Art Gallery, Newark. Private collection, New York; sale, Christie's, London, 4 February 2009, lot 38. Acquired at the above sale by the present owner. Pre-Lot Text Property from a Private East Coast Collection Literature J. Russell, Max Ernst, Life and Work, New York, 1967, no. 73 (illustrated). W. Spies and S. and G. Metken, Max Ernst, Werke 1939-1953, Cologne, 1987, p. 101, no. 2486 (illustrated). Exhibited New York, The Museum of Modern Art, 1960 (on loan). View Lot Notes > This decalcomania oil painting is the finest surviving study for The Temptation of St. Anthony (Spies, no. 2487) now housed in the Wilhelm Lembruck Museum in Duisburg. The temptation of St. Anthony--a devout third century Christian hermit living in the Egyptian desert who was tempted in mind and body by all the worldly pleasures he had renounced--is a common theme in Western art. Such religious themes had little place amongst the Surrealists, however, and Ernst's novel adaptation of the fantastical creatures and figures produced by decalcomania to this age-old religious theme was in fact prompted by an international art competition. In 1945 Hollywood's Loew Lewin Production company organized a prestigious art competition amongst twelve of the leading avant-garde artists of the day to paint a picture on the theme of the Temptation of St. Anthony for use in a forthcoming film version of Maupassant's story of societal ambition and self-corruption Bel Ami. The participating artists in the 'Bel Ami International Art Competition' were Ivan Albright, Eugene Berman, Leonora Carrington, Salvador Dalí, Paul Delvaux, Max Ernst, Leonor Fini, Louis Guglielmi, Horace Pippin, Abraham Rattner, Stanley Spencer and Dorothea Tanning. Each participant, save Leonor Fini, who failed to produce a painting, was paid $500 for their work and Ernst, who was judged the winner by the 'grand jury' of Alfred H Barr, Jr., Marcel Duchamp and Sidney Janis, received $3,000 for his entry. Deriving from figures suggested to him semi-consciously by the decalcomania technique, Ernst's Temptation of St. Anthony was in fact one of the most consciously determined of all his decalcomania works, being inspired not only by the specific theme of St. Anthony's Temptation but also by Matthias Grünewald's take on the subject in his Isenheim Altarpiece in the Unterlinden Museum at Colmar, Alsace. It was Grünewald's precedent amongst the many previous treatments of this subject that determined Ernst's final vision. In the present work, Ernst has chosen to concentrate more on the sexual nature of the 'Temptation.' Presenting a towering cascade (absent in the final work) of naked female figures and human skeletons emerging from a deep forest of decalcomania pattern to form an hallucinatory-like image of sex and death, this early version is a rich and powerful psychological image of a gothic nightmare. Mr. William Slattery Lieberman, the first recorded owner of the present lot, was the first director of the Department of Drawings at The Museum of Modern Art--to which he loaned The Temptation of St. Anthony--and later Chairman of the 20th Century Art Department at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Lot 43 MAX ERNST (german, 1891-1976) "CHERI BIBI" Conceived 1973, cast 1975, signed and numbered 63/175 on the back of the base, with Valsuani Cire Perdue stamp, bronze with green patina 12 3/4 x 7 x 6 3/8 in. (32.4 x 17.8 x 16.2cm) provenance: Private Collection, Washington, D.C. literature: Exhibition catalogue for "Max Ernst: Sculture = Sculptures," Milano: Charta, 1996, p. 184 (another cast illustrated). Estimate $15,000-25,000 With a 1/8-in. loss to the patina at the upper right corner edge, two 3-mm. chips at the lower left edge of the rectangular plane (above foot). Three small holes at lower right that appear original to cast. A few similar spots on the inside of the foot at lower left. With a very thin (unobtrusive) irregular seam/line extending 2-in. downward from another small hole on the underside of the face. A 1/8-inch nick (showing white) at the right receding plane edge. A 1/2 in. round darker circle in the patina on the base to the right of the foundry stamp. Very minor rubbing or soft scuffing in places, and occasional pitting mainly at the base. Otherwise, generally in good original condition. Descriptions provided in both printed and on-line catalogue formats do not include condition reports. The absence of a condition statement does not imply that the lot is in perfect condition or completely free from wear and tear, imperfections or the effects of aging. Interested bidders are strongly encouraged to request a condition report on any lots upon which they intend to bid, prior to placing a bid. All transactions are governed by Freeman's Conditions of Sale. Sold for $13,000

LOT 67 THE DOROTHY M. SKINNER AND JOHN S. COOK COLLECTION, SOLD TO BENEFIT THE SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES AT TUFTS UNIVERSITY MAX ERNST 1891 - 1976 L'HOMME À LA LISIÈRE DE LA FORÊT; AUX PETITS AGNEAUX: ONE PLATE; AND OHNE TITEL (SPIES / LEPPIEN 58; 196 X; AND 108) Two lithographs and one etching printed in colors, the first with additions in red, 1954-71, each signed in pencil, numbered 89/95, H.C. VIII/XXI, and 52/69 respectively, the first on wove paper, the others on japon nacré, each framed (3 prints) first sheet 653 by 503 mm 25 3/4 by 19 7/8 in second sheet 330 by 255 mm 13 by 10 in

417. Max Ernst France 1891-1976 Untitled, from:"Oiseaux en peril". Etching with aquatint in colours and with collage, 1975, on Arches paper (double page with text) signed in pencil and numbered 87/100, published by Georges Visat, Paris. P. 30,5 x 25,5 cm. S. 54,5 x 84 cm. Time and mat staining.