Lot Essay
FROM 1925 THERE COMES A PHASE IN MAX ERNST'S OEUVRE WHERE HE DEVOTES MOST OF HIS TIME TO BIRDS AND FORESTS. THE MONUMENTS TO THE BIRDS AND THE BIRDS' WEDDINGS...ARE IN CONTRAST TO THE OPPRESSIVE FORESTS AND HORDES, GLORIFICATIONS OF AN IDEAL WEIGHTLESSNESS AND OF A LUST FOR LIFE WHICH INCLUDES THE EROTIC' (U. SCHNEEDE, THE ESSENTIAL MAX ERNST, LONDON 1972, P. 88). THE IMAGE OF BIRDS WAS ASSOCIATED NOT ONLY WITH THE CONCEPTS OF LOVE, DEATH AND PLEASURE BUT ALSO WITH FREEDOM, THE FANTASTIC AND THE INTELLECT.
BY 1930, ERNST HAD CREATED AN ALTER EGO OUT OF A BIRD WHICH HE NAMED LOPLOP, A SORT OF "SUPERIOR OF THE BIRDS". OTHER NAMES GIVEN TO THIS ALTER EGO WERE HORNEBOM AND DADAMAX. APPARENTLY, THE PREOCCUPATION WITH BIRDS DATES BACK TO AN EARLY CHILDHOOD MEMORY, WHEN THE DEATH OF A PET BIRD COINCIDED WITH THE BIRTH OF HIS LITTLE SISTER.
BY 1930, ERNST HAD CREATED AN ALTER EGO OUT OF A BIRD WHICH HE NAMED LOPLOP, A SORT OF "SUPERIOR OF THE BIRDS". OTHER NAMES GIVEN TO THIS ALTER EGO WERE HORNEBOM AND DADAMAX. APPARENTLY, THE PREOCCUPATION WITH BIRDS DATES BACK TO AN EARLY CHILDHOOD MEMORY, WHEN THE DEATH OF A PET BIRD COINCIDED WITH THE BIRTH OF HIS LITTLE SISTER.