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| The Elephant Celebes |
| Max Ernst, 1921 |
| Oil on canvas |
| 125. Max Ernst ( 2 April 1891 &ndash 1 April 1976) was a German painter, Sculptor, Graphic artist, and Year 1921 ( MCMXXI) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display full 1921 calendar of the Gregorian calendar Oil painting is the process of painting with Pigments that are bound with a medium of Drying oil — especially in early modern Europe Linseed oil 4 × 107. 9 cm, 49. 37 × 42. 48 in |
| Tate Gallery, London |
The Elephant Celebes (or Celebes) is a 1921 painting by the German Dadaist and Surrealist Max Ernst. Tate is the United Kingdom 's national museum of British and Modern Art and is a network of four art galleries in England: Tate Britain (opened in London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. List of years in Art Events Paul Sérusier publishes his ABC of Painting. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. For other meanings see Dada (disambiguation DaDa is a Concept album by Alice Cooper, released Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early-1920s and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members Max Ernst ( 2 April 1891 &ndash 1 April 1976) was a German painter, Sculptor, Graphic artist, and It is possibly the most famous of Ernst's early surrealist works and "undoubtedly the first masterpiece of Surrealist painting in the De Chirico tradition". [1] It combines the vivid, dreamlike atmosphere of Surrealism with the collage aspects of Dada. A collage (From the coller to glue is a work of formal art primarily in the Visual arts, made from an assemblage of different forms thus creating a new whole
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The work and its influences
Giorgio de Chirico was an inspiration for the early Surrealists, and Celebes' palette and spatial construction show his influence. Giorgio de Chirico ( July 10, 1888 &ndash November 20, 1978) was an influential pre-Surrealist and then Surrealist [2] The painting also attempts to apply Dada's collage effects to simulate different materials. A collage (From the coller to glue is a work of formal art primarily in the Visual arts, made from an assemblage of different forms thus creating a new whole Ernst's realistic portrayal of the constituent elements produces a hallucinatory effect that he associated with collage, and was trying to achieve in this painting. [3] Regarding the art of collage, Ernst said, "[It is] the systematic exploitation of the coincidental or artificially provoked encounter of two of more unrelated realities on an apparently inappropriate plane and the spark of poetry created by the proximity of these realities. "[4]
The central focus of the painting is a giant mechanical figure. It is round and has a trunk-like hose protruding from it. The figure’s round body was modeled after a photograph in an anthropological journal of a clay corn bin from a southern Sudanese tribe, the Konkombwa. Sudan (officially the Republic of Sudan) ( السودان al-Sūdān is a country in northeastern Africa. Celebes suggests "ritual and totemic sculpture of African origin", evidenced by the totem-like pole at right and the figure's bull horns. [2] The painting uniquely combines found imagery and tribal elements. [2]
Ernst's creature has a frilly metallic cuff or collar, and a horned head and tail. The low horizon emphasizes the creature's bulk, and the gesture of the headless mannequin introduces the viewer to the figure. The mannequin wears a surgical glove, a common Surrealist symbol. This nude figure may have a mythological connotation, suggesting the abduction of Europa by Zeus while disguised as a bull. Zeus (zjuːs in Greek: nominative: Zeús /zdeús/ genitive: Diós; Modern Greek /'zefs/ in Greek mythology [3] The mostly empty sky contains more incongruities: there are two fish "flying" at left (one writer considers the scene to be underwater[3]). The black shape to the right of the fish looks like an oncoming airplane, and there is a trail of smoke in the right part of the sky. These may be allusions to the "mechanical terror of the war experience" which led to Ernst writing, "On the 1st of August 1914 Max Ernst died. He was resurrected on the 11 November 1918 as a young man who aspired to find the myths of his time. "[2] Celebes, then, seems to represent the myth of destruction. [2]
"Celebes" was once the popular name for the island of Sulawesi, one of the Greater Sunda Islands of Indonesia. Sulawesi (formerly known as Celebes, ˈsɛlɛbiz is one of the four larger Sunda Islands of Indonesia and is situated between Borneo and the The Greater Sunda Islands are a group of Islands within the Malay Archipelago. The Republic of Indonesia ( (Republik Indonesia is a Country in Southeast Asia. Ernst told Penrose that the title Celebes was derived from the opening words of a German schoolboys' rhyme with sexual connotations:
Der Elefant von Celebes
Hat hinten etwas gelebes
Der Elefant von Sumatra
Der vögelt seine Grossmama
Der Elefant von Indien
Der kann das Loch nicht finden
The elephant from [C]elebes
has sticky, yellow bottom grease
The elephant from Sumatra
always fucks his grandmamma
The elephant from India
can never find the hole ha-ha[2]
In this context, the totemic pole may be interpreted as a phallic symbol. The word phallus can refer to an erect Penis, or to an object shaped like a penis
History
The painting's less common but original title is Celebes, according to inscriptions on the front and back of the canvas. [1] Ernst painted Celebes in Cologne in 1921. The French poet and Surrealist Paul Eluard visited Ernst that year and purchased the painting and took it back to Paris. Paul Éluard was the Pen name of Eugène Émile Paul Grindel ( 14 December 1895 – 18 November 1952) a French Eluard would buy other of Ernst's paintings, and Ernst painted murals for Eluard's house in Eaubonne. Eaubonne is a commune in the northern suburbs of Paris, France. It remained in Eluard's collection until 1938 and was then purchased by the English artist Roland Penrose. Sir Roland Penrose ( 14 October 1900 – 23 April 1984) CBE, Kt, was an English artist historian and poet It has been in the collection of the Tate Gallery, London since 1975 and is displayed in the Tate Modern. Tate is the United Kingdom 's national museum of British and Modern Art and is a network of four art galleries in England: Tate Britain (opened in The Tate Modern in London is Britain 's national museum of international Modern art and is with Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool, The back of the canvas is decorated with some doodles that are seemingly unconnected to the subject matter on the front of the canvas, including two figures holding golf clubs adjacent to the word "GOLF" . Golf clubs are used in the sport of Golf to hit a Golf ball. Each club is composed of a shaft with a lance(grip and a clubhead
Sources
- ^ a b Wilson, Simon (Mar. 1978). "'Dada and Surrealism Reviewed' at the Hayward Gallery". The Burlington Magazine 120 (900): 178+181–184.
- ^ a b c d e f Jeffett, William (1990). "Max Ernst" in James Vinson (ed. ), International Dictionary of Art and Artists vol. 2, Art. Detroit: St. James Press; pp. 864–65. ISBN 1-55862-001-X.
- ^ a b c Klingseohr-Leroy, Cathrin (2004). Surrealism. Taschen, 50. ISBN 3822822159.
- ^ Walther, Ingo F. , & Robert Suckale (2002). Masterpieces Of Western Art: A History Of Art In 900 Individual Studies From The Gothic To The Present Day. Taschen, 608. ISBN 3822818259.
External links
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