Impressionist and Modern Art Part Two

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Lot 274
  • 274

Max Ernst

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Description

  • Max Ernst
  • DESCENTE DANS LA VALLéE
  • Signed and dated Max Ernst 49 (lower right); also signed max ernst, titled and dated 49 on the reverse
  • Oil on canvas
  • 21 3/4 by 18 1/8 in.
  • 55.2 by 46.1 cm

Provenance

Lois Borgenicht, New York (by 1987)
Private Collection, USA (sold: Sotheby's, New York, November 12, 1988, lot 412)
Galleria la Medusa, Rome (purchased at the above sale)
Acquired from the above by the present owner

Exhibited

Paris, Galerie René Drouin, Max Ernst, 1950, no. 52
New York, Hugo Gallery, Max Ernst, 1950, no. 8
Houston, Contemporary Arts Association, Max Ernst, 1952, no. 11
New York, Byron Gallery, Max Ernst, 1970, no. 21, illustrated in color in the catalogue

Literature

Günter Metken, 'Europa nach dem Regen. Max Ernsts Dekalkomanien und die Tropfsteinhöhlen in Südfrankreich', in Städel Jahrbuch, vol. 5, 1975, p. 293, no. 7
Werner Spies, Sigrid and Günter Metken, Max Ernst, Werke 1939-1953, Cologne, 1987, no. 2690, illustrated p. 204

Catalogue Note

In 1946 Ernst settled in Sedona, Arizona together with Dorothea Tanning.  He remained there until 1953 and this work was painted during this period.  He saw the landscape of Arizona 'as a parallel to the landscape of his mind' (Diane Waldman, Max Ernst, a retrospective, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1975, p. 57) and painted a large number of lyrical landscapes and "microbes'.  In its mysterious power and formal inventiveness, this work is an exceptional image.

Max Ernst and Dorothea Tanning with Capricorn, Sedona, 1948