- 57
Max Ernst
Description
- Max Ernst
- L'Imbécile
- Inscribed max Ernst, numbered 3/3 and with the foundry mark Susse Fondeur Paris
- Bronze
- Height: 27 3/4 in.
- 70.4 cm
Provenance
Acquired from the above in February 1965
Exhibited
New York, The Jewish Museum, Max Ernst, 1966, n.n., illustrated in the catalogue
New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Summer Loan Show, 1978
Literature
Werner Spies & S. & G. Metken, Max Ernst Oeuvre-Katalog: Werke 1954-1963, Cologne, 1998, no. 3824, illustration of another cast p. 408
Werner Spies, Max Ernst, Sculptures, Maisons, Paysages (exhibition catalogue), Centre Pompidou, Paris, 1998, no. 111, illustration of another cast p. 191
Max Ernst, Paramyths: Sculpture, 1934-1967 (exhibition ccatalogue), Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York, 2015, illustrations of another cast pp. 72-73
Catalogue Note
Interpretations of the character depicted in L’Imbécile are varied. Ernst had pored over a 1922 book focused on art produced by the mentally ill and some scholars believed this work echoed imagery found within it. Werner Spies asserted that it was intended to depict Charles de Gaulle, the French president. Jürgen Pech points to “A leaflet written by the Belgian artist René Magritte in 1946 is also titled “L’imbécile”.... makes it clear that the correlations with Max Ernst have to be investigated further. And, in fact, his L’imbécile is not a mentally ill person, but a cleric. The round collard marks him as a pastor. He is possessed by two small figures, which can be identified by their poses; one is pious, the other is a free spirit” (Max Ernst, Paramyths: Sculpture, 1934-1967 (exhibition catalogue), Op. cit., p. 73).