Étoile de mer (Starfish)
Artist
Max Ernst
German, 1891 - 1976
Date1950
MediumColor lithograph on Arches vélin paper
DimensionsSight: 17 3/4 x 11 in. (45.1 x 27.9 cm)
Matboard: 25 3/4 × 19 in. (65.4 × 48.3 cm)
Matboard: 25 3/4 × 19 in. (65.4 × 48.3 cm)
ClassificationsPrints
Credit LineDonated by Stephen J. Sills, M.D. in loving memory of his wife Nancy Mintz Sills.
Object number2008.3.6
On View
Not on viewCollections
- Modern and Contemporary Art
- Works on Paper
SignedSigned lower left, outside the image, in pencil: "Max Ernst".
MarkingsNumber in edition In LR outside of image, pencil,: "44/200"
DescriptionAbstract of two standing figures with a starfish between them near their feet. Above the right figure are two cepahlopods, possibly octopuses, head to head, and below the figures are two more cephalopods, possibly squid. The figures are largely geometric with both having their arms configured in the shape of a letter Z, the right arm bent and the hand placed on the head, the left arm bent and the arm placed on the hip. The right figure has a black triangle for a head, the left figure has a circular element and a triangle in the area of the head. The figures are black, blue and orange on an irregular white ground that is surrounded with pale blue that looks filled in with crayon as on a child's drawing.
The starfish and areas of dots and other lines around the figures are created using Ernst's technique of "frottage" or rubbing and look like they were originally created by rubbing over textured objects.
In a modern frame, narrow moulding, blue-black with gilt inner and outer edges.Exhibition History"Director's Choice: Focus on Modernism," Hoopes Gallery, The Hyde Collection, April 5, 2008 - September 14, 2008.
“Modern and Contemporary Art from the Permanent Collection”, Feibes & Schmitt Gallery, The Hyde Collection, December 28, 2017 – April 30, 2018Provenance1967, Lausanne, Switzerland, Galerie Paul Vallotin
Great Neck, NY, Sam Mintz
2002, Guilderland, NY, Stephen and Nancy Mintz Sills (by inheritance)
2008, Glens Falls, NY, The Hyde Collection Trust
