Max Ernst (1891-1976)

German born painter, sculptor and printmaker Max Ernst was one of the leading Surrealists and played a major role in the Dadaist movement. Ernst became friends with the highly accomplished goldsmith François Victor-Hugo, around 1934, when he stayed at the home of his wife Princess Ruspoli in Vigoleno in Italy. Separated during the Second World War when Ernst was captured as a prisoner of war, the friends were reunited years later and spoke again of the idea of working together in 1957. In 1959 on Ernst’s return from Saint-Clair he brought the first fourteen pieces created from plastiline, producing another eight a year later. Requiring a lightness and finesse he asked that Hugo use the same procedure as for the plates he had made for Pablo Picasso, hammering the precious metal into specifically cast moulds taken from the artist’s models. Originally made out of pure gold, they abandoned it for 23 carat gold that was less malleable, which was used for his later gold works.

The lustrous and beautifully decorated Microbes (P.H. 1777) highlights the inventiveness and creativity of Ernst and the precision of Hugo’s execution. See also lots 35 and 42.