Seashell

Currently not on view

Seashell

1928

Max Ernst (American (born Germany), 1891–1976)

Max Ernst created the contours and textures of the scalloped shell and wood slats in this picture by placing his canvas over different objects and then scraping paint on or off with a palette knife. This innovative process, called grattage, was meant to suspend preconceived ideas in the creation of the motif. Only after shapes began to appear would they be more actively transformed. Ernst, a member of Dada circles in Germany before moving to Paris in 1922, related such practice to “the intellect’s age-old energetic need to liberate itself from the deceptive and boring paradise of fixed memories and to investigate new, incomparably expansive areas of experience, in which the boundaries between the so-called inner world and the outer world become increasingly blurred.”

Currently not on view

Object Details

Title:

Seashell

Date:

1928

Artist:

Max Ernst (American (born Germany), 1891–1976)

Medium:

Oil on canvas

Dimensions:

25 1/2 x 21 1/4 inches (64.8 x 54 cm) Framed: 28 1/8 × 23 3/4 × 1 7/8 inches (71.4 × 60.3 × 4.8 cm)

Classification:

Paintings

Credit Line:

The Louise and Walter Arensberg Collection, 1950

Accession Number:

1950-134-86

Geography:

Made in France, Europe

Provenance

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Currently not on view