LOT DETAILS

Materials:

oil on canvas

Measurements:

25.59 in. (65.00 cm.) (height) by 31.89 in. (81.00 cm.) (width)

Markings:

signed 'max ernst' (lower right); signed again, dated and inscribed 'max ernst 1941 product of France' (on the reverse)

Exhibited:

New York, Valentine Gallery, Exhibition Max Ernst , March - April 1942, no. 20. New York, Art of This Century, Objects, Drawings, Photographs, Paintings, Sculpture, Collages, 1910-1942 , 1942, p. 104. Washington D.C., Caresse Crosby Gallery, Max Ernst/Dorothea Tanning, March - April 1946, no. 1. Beverly Hills, The Copley Galleries, Max Ernst, 30 Years of His Work, A Survey , January - February 1949, no. 33. Paris, Galerie René Drouin, Max Ernst , 1950, no. 11, p. 61. Brühl, Schloss Augustusburg, Max Ernst, Gemälde und Graphik 1920-1950 , March - April 1951 (illustrated p. 66; detail illustrated p. 67). London, Institute of Contemporary Art Gallery, Max Ernst, Drawings, Paintings, Collages, 1918-1952 , December 1952 - January 1953, no. 44. Knokke-Le Zoute, Albert Plage, Casino Municipal, Max Ernst, July - August 1953, no. 71, p. 27. Paris, Orangerie des Tuileries, Max Ernst: á l'intérieur de la vue , April - May 1971, no. XVII, p. 24. Munich, Haus der Kunst, Max Ernst, Retrospektive , February - April 1979, no. 260, p. 314; this exhibition later travelled to Berlin, Nationalgalerie, May - July 1979. Cleveland, Museum of Art, The Spirit of Surrealism , October - November 1979, no. 24, p. 173 (illustrated p. 70). London, Tate Gallery, Max Ernst: A Retrospective , February -  April 1991, no. 213, p. 380 (illustrated p. 241); this exhibition later travelled to Stuttgart, Staatsgalerie, May - August 1991; and Dusseldorf, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, August - November 1991. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Exiles and Emigrés: The Flight of European Artists from Hitler , February – May 1997, no. 34, p. 160 (illustrated fig. 142); this exhibition later travelled to Montreal, Musée des Beaux Arts, June – September 1997; and Berlin, Neue Nationalgalerie, October 1997 - January 1998. New York, The Equitable Gallery, Julien Levy: Portrait of an Art Gallery , August - October 1998 (illustrated pl. 18, p. 112)

Literature:

M. Ernst, Beyond Painting and Other Writings by the Artist and His Friends , New York, 1948, no. 65, p. xii (illustrated pl. 65). G.R. Hocke, Die Welt als Labyrinth, Manier und Manie in der europäischen Kunst , Hamburg, 1957, no. 42 (illustrated). P. Waldberg, Max Ernst , Paris, 1958 (illustrated pp. 338-339). R. Benayoun, Erotique de Surréalisme , Paris, 1965 (detail illustrated p. 99). R. von Holten, Gustave Moreau, Symbolist , Stockholm, 1965, p. 174 (illustrated). J. Russell, Max Ernst, Leben und Werk , Cologne, 1966, no. 80, p. 347 (illustrated p. 269). C. Sala, Max Ernst et la démarche onirique , Paris, 1970, p. 81 (illustrated pl. 28). U. Schneede, Max Ernst , Stuttgart, 1972, no. 329, p. 212 (illustrated p. 168). E. Quinn, Textes de Max Ernst , Paris, 1976, p. 443 (illustrated p. 219). Exh. cat., 10 x Max Ernst, Eine didaktische Ausstellung zum Verständnis seiner Kunst , Dusseldorf, 1978, p. 443 (illustrated p. 219). W. Spies, S. & G. Metken, Max Ernst Oeuvre-Katalog, Werke 1939-1953 , Cologne, 1987, no. 2376, p. 38 (illustrated). R. McNab, Ghost Ships, A Surrealist Love Triangle , New Haven, 2004, pp. 171, 182-188 & 202 (illustrated fig. 98, p. 182; detail illustrated fig. 113, p. 197). W. Spies, exh. cat., Max Ernst: A Retrospective , New York, 2005, p. 14 (illustrated fig. 9)

Provenance:

Edward James, London, by 1951. Jimmy Ernst, New Canaan, Connecticut. Dallas Ernst, Sag Harbor, New York, by descent from the above in 1984. Estate of Edith Dallas Ernst, by descent from the above; sale, Christie's, New York, 1 November 2011, lot 36 ($16,322,500). Private collection, London, by whom acquired at the above sale