Surrealist Persona: Max Ernst's "Loplop, Superior of Birds" Author(s): Charlotte Stokes Source: Simiolus: Netherlands Quarterly forthe History of Art, Vol. 13, No. 3/4 (1983), pp. 225-234 Published by: Stichting voor Nederlandse Kunsthistorische Publicaties Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3780542 . Accessed: 24/05/2011 02:04 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=svnk. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Stichting voor Nederlandse Kunsthistorische Publicaties is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Simiolus: Netherlands Quarterly for the History of Art. http://www.jstor.org 4 Karl Otten. (note I). Using Freud's methods Max Ernst sensitized himself to his dreams. he discovered that for him birds had a personal as well as a general significance. "Max Ernst in Max Ernst in Koln.New York n. Cologne 1974.G. Joachim Heusinger von Waldegg. and ed. cit.Rather. on the contrary. 98.superior of birds* Stokes Charlotte The persona is a semblance. New York 197I. as a means of bringing to light the beautiful workings of their own minds.1 C. superiorof birds. PatrickWaldberg. p. die StaffeleifigurMax Ernsts. The seemingly contradictory nature of the persona is similar to Jung's definition of human personality. ed. p. und die rheinische Kunstszene I909-I919. which are not used by the artists as therapy but. 2 For other discussionsof Loplop in the work of Max Ernst see: painting:I929-I939. GunterMetken. pp.pp. Violet Staub de I Carl G." Wulf Herzogenrath. .Myth in surrealist bor. Returningfrom and Jokesand Vienna.Like the maskof the classicalactor-from which comes-the personadefinesthe artthe term "persona" ist for the public."Sich die Kunst vom Leib halten. By using techniques borrowedfrom psychology and anthropologythey searchtheir own pasts to finda uniquecombination andtheirown personalities of visualsymbols.a two-dimensionalreality. pp. but the presenter of Ernst's interpretationsof his own world. From a general concern of oneself behind an elaboratepublic with imagery of birds he evolved an image associated game concealing * I would like to expressmy appreciation to the OaklandUniversity ResearchCommitteefor awardingme a grant(1980/1981) to pursue researchon this subject. Max Ernst:Collagen: Widerspruch. others create personasof great complexity.4 never ignoring the symbols and traditions from the German culture into which he was born.surrealists artistslikeDuchampwith his RroseSelavyhavecreated individual personas that are incorporatedinto their works. 80-8i.Such a personain the formof Loplop. 23. trans. Cologne i980.Otten introducedThe interpretation of dreams to Ernst. To make the andother personalnatureof theirartexplicit.Max Ernst. 205-06. Loplop.. Laszlo. pp.pp. was a studentand championof Freud. "Homage face of one's own invention. New York I959.Max Ernst: theirrelationto theunconscious life and work. cultivated automatic responses and free associations. Although some of these artists simply repeat images of themselves. WernerSpies. I38.Michigan1980. and EduardTier. It would be a mistake. however. to assume that throughthe personathe artisttotallyexposeshimselfthat he is an artisticflasher.225 Surrealistpersona:Max Ernst'sLoplop. This is not to say that the persona is a pose. Bird imagery became an important part of Ernst's paintings and collages beginning as early as his participation in the Dada move- to Loplop" in Homageto Max Ernst.2 Loplop is not only the artist's personal symbol. Jung. and contemplated memories of his childhood. 3 Jung.it is the artist's mask. was created by the surrealistartist Max Ernst in the I920S." Pantheon36 und Inventar (1978). who was in Ernst's close circle of friends before WorldWarI.the personais an aesthetic device created and controlled by the artist.d. special issue of XXe Siecle Review. but rather that the artist has gone to the subject he or she supposedly knows best in order to find more potent truths and myths.. By analyzing the symbolism of his dreams and other unguarded thoughts. 85-96. op. See John Russell. Modeled on his or her own personality.. I44-49. while concealingthe "real" person. Paris I958. 34-38.Jung it is All surrealist artis to some degreeautobiographical: an avowed codificationnot only of how artists see the world but of how they see themselves. The skilfulmanipulation of the personaoften becomesa ment in Cologne before I920. Ann ArWhitney Chadwick. in which the persona is a compromise between the role the world imposes on the individual and the needs of the self. p.3 The surrealist's persona differs from Jung's model because much of it is consciously derived from Freud's methods of self-exploration. The basicwritings. whose titles begin with Loplopintroduces. Because Ernst may show him as a human figure with bird attributes. the identifyingclan symbol.superior of birds. New York 1979. From this introductionhe appearsin Ernst's works for the rest of the artist's life and is associatedwithErnstin the artist'swritingsandin thoseof other surrealists. a personacalled Loplop. He is holding a picture of the thing or person presented (fig. undTabu(originallypublishedin I890)and SigmundFreud's Totem nally publishedas a groupof four essaysin I913). ClaudeHersaint with himself. Although bird-headedfigures are found less 5 Ian Turpin. bodying totems. Loplop.. the totem.. takes on the qualities of another supernatural being. but two that he probablyreadwereJamesGeorgeFrazer'sThegoldenbough (origi- . In the series of paintingsand collages which Ernst began in I930.1928. and Mrs.. The bird-headed easel is Ernst's stand-in. Ernst'spersonais in a figurativeand poeticsenselike the totemin the tribalsetting:the creature who is the spiritualfather. 6 Ernsthad accessto any numberof bookson totems. Loplop first figures in the 1928 painting Loplop. superior of birds(fig.and Lucifer himself. I I frequently.the god-like protector. the birdman. but it has many more associations.includinghis notoriousCage-bed (I973). and even the residenceof In Ernst'sartand writingLopthe soul of the believer.sometimesemfrom lop slips of tribal which is also characteristic all at once.More thana touch of irony enters in these birdmenif we note that fromthe I930s Ernstowned a manualon bird-trapping and thatcagesand cagedbirdsdominatedhis methods.5 withscreen laterworks.they are probablythe oldest representation of the shamanwho controlsmagicalpower. 2). Collectionof Mr.Loplop is parteaseland parthumanfigurewith a bird's head. Loplop.who is Ernst's personalemblem. p. Max Ernst. who may be a bird or a man with the head or wings of a bird.226 CHARLOTTE STOKES I Max Ernst.Loplop can take on the supernatural powerof wingedcreatures-angels. cupids. I).6 one function to another. e. Max Ernst's Loplop .I 1.. .... . . L ii .. . . . collage. ..... ~_... 227 a*' ? .. . L .. * \^i<<\k.... .. .: _?' 1 i k::: -11 .... ... i ..? ..: .. .. } V...V.v N... ..? \o i \\\ Max Ernst. . ... .s d*a s s e v.. Loplopintroduces members the New Museum of Modem Art Surrealist of Group.. York...... 9.. . et ' . . : ?I. h P I1 I..I931.. . -. .....- '...: ... 1'' I ti^... ..o.. --.. .. f 2 *a C l. 2nd series." Loplop is imbedded."Somedataon the youthof M. Max Ernst. in- cluded several of Ernst's Dada poems."7 Later in the piece he describesan event that took place whenhe wasfourteenyearsold: "Oneof his bestfriends. The wanderer. The second of the seven commandments Breton derived from his contact with Ernst reads: "Wander. "Anti-lops-tilopam. wanderingis not exis not only the wild ploringor hiking. 1 Russell. the superior of the birds. ." in "Antwortder Weltbiirger the rhythmic one line of which. and even later Max identified himself voluntarily with Loplop.He describeshis reactions to the two events. In the form of an eagle it is the companionof the god Zeus and the wandererZarathustra.228 CHARLOTTE STOKES written in 1942 Ernst In a surrealistautobiography establishedthe bird as a personaltotem by linkingit to birthin the first sentence: his own "supernatural" "The 2nd of April ( 891) at 9:45 a. For Nietzsche and Romanticwriterssuch as Goethe. P.in 1929.a threatto that regimentation. for in 1922 he had his first Germanexhibitionin a smallgalleryrunby JohannaEy. p. 9 Ibid." etc. Perhapsmore artist."10 Althoughthe name for his persona. "lilli. Ernst sent her a telegram beginning.whichErnstcalled"a bookwhichspeaksto the future.whichcan be seen in his paintings. 30. if you knowhow to read. Schneede.piercingeyes.from the birdwho hatchedhim andthatthis birdfollowedhis planeto America. On her sixtyfifthbirthday. like the wild bird. cit. p. I (April 1942). is free of the regimentation which society imposeson its membersand. p. by his very That the great example. New York I972. did not cometo light until 1928.The wholeof surrealism is in it.coupledwith a willingnessto give up creaturecomforts.Loplop. Nietzsche makes use of this quality in his "Songs of Prince Vogelfrei"published in the second edition of The gay science(Die frohliche Wissenschaft [1887]). 28." Ernst closes his notes about himself by saying that he receivedadvice. some seedsfor the namecan be foundearlier. whomErnst and his friendscalledMutterEy (MotherEgg). 8 Ibid. R. But why did Ernst choose a bird to be his personal symbol?Ernst with his smooth fair hair. Last. when he came out of the egg which his motherhad laid in an eagle's nest and which the bird had broodedfor seven years. io Uwe M. and sharpnose resembledan alert bird. "free as a bird. During this periodErnstalsoused the wordDadaas a prefixfor his name. nr. 44. Ernst'shatchingfroman egg has a significance in his artisticlife.op. This poetry is dependenton such repeated sounds for its rhythmand its peculiarquality. A dangerousconfusion between birdsand humansbecameencrustedin his mind and asserteditself in his drawingsand paintings.Ernst'smodification of his identity with repeatednonsensesyllablesis not unique to Lopis a poem by Ernst called lop.." "titi. which contain repeatedsyllableslike the word "Dada" itself.The obsessionhauntedhim until he erectedthe Birdsmemorial monument in 1927. we praisethee. fits of hysteria. The conceptof thewanderer hasapsychological meaning in Ernst'spersonaas well. Also in Die Schammade an Kurt Pinthus-Genius. 20.The Germanword vogelfrei ("bird free")is the termfora banditor someonewith a priceon his head. artistor thinker-like the criminal-is outside and opposed to civilizationis an idea which Nietzsche uses to the full in ThusspakeZarathustra.the bird importantin the mind of an avant-garde has always been associatedwith freedom."Greategg.the wings of augurywill attach 7 MaxErnst." View.W. (note 4). as told by himself.Dadamax."" The birdis alsoa fit alterego becauseof the company it keeps. The wanderer's very lackof purposeor program. which was published in Cologne by the Dadaists in 1920. a most intelligentandaffectionate pinkcockatoo.m. trans." died at the sametime as Ernst'syoungestsisterwas born. E.exaltations and depressionsfollowed.andthe wilderness unsettled land but also a metaphorfor the unbridled creativeareasof the mind. sets him apart from the highly lives of the middle-classsocietyof regulatedprosperous Ernst'syouth. Max Ernst had his firstcontactwith the sensibleworld."But in Germanthoughtthe bird wheelingover a wildernessis not only a symbol of freedombut also an antisocialpresence.The singleissueof Die Schammade.whichwerelike a violentrite of passage: "A series of mysticalcrises. . but at the age of fifteen he too set out to wander over the Rhineland. the Palatinate.so useful to the surrealists. and Holland. pp.The Nestor had found these intruders the situagoodprey."trans.Ernstcut four of the animalsfromthis engraving and distributedthem in collagesthroughoutLa femme 1oo tetes. a historyof the German 13 WalterLaqueur. The antisocialwild birds in the sourceitself are consistent with the autobiographical themes in Ernst's work. movement.13 The Wandervogel was influencedby political ideas of the time. ed. and these trips literallyand figuratively separatedthem from the rule of their families.The rest of the articlegoes on to document in exquisitedetail how the birds crippleand finallykill the sheep. Alsace."17 Such a descriptionof the activities of the parrotsin destroyingthe domesticated European sheep hardly needs modificationto fit into surrealist philosophy. the Crucifixion.The attribution of meaningto any of the collage elementsin Ernst'sworkscan be a trickybusiness: sometimesthe elementis of littleimportance itself. takesmanyof its themes fromthe artist'sown youthful experience in Germany. but sometimes the subject demonstrates its importance by almostobsessivere-use in a series of images. 1921. which he foundin the popularsciencemagazine La Nature. La femme1oo tetes. p.merely filling an empty corner. (note 4). Breton meansnot streets or to wander countryroadsbut also to city only wanderthe pathsof the mind. 2nd series. They slept outside or in barns and were sometimesgone for weeks.althoughhe madeit in France. 235.The fragmentsof the engravingdistributed throughout the novel establish a unity in Ernst'smind.In any event. La Nature. 3-38. p. and Christianity. p. but it was not a political organization.Max Ernst's Loplop 229 themselvesto your heels. The latter is the case with the Nestor engraving. i6 Max Ernst. The boys who belonged to this movement walked the countryside in small groupsled not by an adult counselorbut by one of the older boys. the WandervogelprovidedErnst in title and philosophyan impor- tant synthesisof ideas.often very dirty. 4) appearsfirst in the novel. Leipzig 14 Hans Breuer. rev. The figure of the sheep (fig. Its patrioticsentiments were turned more to cultural pursuits. 15 Waldberg. Der Zupfgeigenhansl.was probably not a member of the Wandervogel." part i.Paris 1929.Althoughthe authoracknowledged tion that precipitatedthe behavior of the birds. 6."14 Ernst.15 Whetheror not Ernst was a member. Indeed. 17 E. Freud'smethod is a kind of wanof analysis. sheepbeing by parrots The illustrates an article the on introduc3). This was the songbookfor the Wandervogel. Ernst's subscriptionto that synthesis is graphically illustratedby one of the engravingshe used and reused as source materialfor images in his collage novel. Young Germany: youth London 1962.he could not have escaped knowledge of this movement and its values and what during his youth.largelymembersof the Expressionist whom Ernst knew before the First World War. man youth movementcalled the Wandervogel ("migratory bird").ed. Generally they were from Protestant. albeita unity not revealedto the observer without knowledge of the common source for the images. dering. with all its associationswith Christ.such as preservingand singing folk songs like the one beginning:"Ein Vogel wollteHochzeitmachen in dem griinenWalde.16which. pp. I890. Ernst superimposed the tortured and dying sheep. i8. The stance. 228-29. i (April 1942).as well as the long-suffering I2 AndreBreton."Les Nestors de la Nouvelle-Zelande.LionelAbel. and purposefulnon-direcof both the Wandervogel and the tion are characteristic young Expressionistartists. Oustalet. LafemmeIoo tetes. he states:"Cefut un traitde lumiere:les Nestorsetaientles auteursdu mal. which was formed in 19go and continued throughthe First WorldWar. The connectionbetween the Germanfolk hero. with a prototype for an avant-gardeartistic movement. who was froma Catholicfamily. . cit. campingclothes and sometimesa hat decorated with feathers. This engraving. View. middle-classhomes. openly anti-authoritarian valuing of youth for itself. engraving tion of Europeansheep into the ecological system of New Zealand."12 By this.op. Indeed the Wandervogel it stood for may have provided the young German movement artists."The legendarylife of Max Ernst: precededby a briefdiscussionon the needfora new myth. 1909.. the and the wild bird was establishedin the Gerwanderer.They worerough. Westphalia.is of a attacked wild called Nestors (fig. loyaltyto one's peers. nr. . partI. on the "Vue d'ensembledu nouveauLycee Buffon. Loplop..Plate 8 of Lafemmeioo tetes. Max Ernst. - - a volonteet dilatesonabdomen demi-fecond 4 Max Ernst.Nestorsde la Nouvelle-Zelande Illustrationfrom La Nature. ..He was the secondof six children. en commun.effarouche 5 Max Ernst. .le superieur Plate 58 of Lafemme1oo tetes. with horrorand disgust.~-. (Like all such secondaryschools. p. . .:. L'Agneau devientagnelle.'':. IndeedWaldberg Ernstused for the scene is fromLa Nature. 233 civilizedman...l [- r r. I am indebtedto my friend and colleagueProfessorKatherine Kennedy. the untranslatable word play of the captions also suggests the budding and confused sexualityof a boy firstawareof girls at school who were not his sisters.. 20 19 WilliamS. moutons.. probably in "dilate abdomen" recalls anthe son phrase caption otheraspectof Ernst'schildhood. .Paris 1929 les derniers desoiseaux. p. - - - - - - - - - - . de la devotion vestiges Paris 1929 yis.:''ii. - .. the VolksschuThe was coeducational. - . wood-engraving. - . I8 The engraving part I.New York 1961. p.and his mother'spregnancieswere an imgoes so portantaspectof his homelife. whose vast knowledgeof late nineteenthand early twentieth-centuryeducationin Germanywas of great help to me in unthe socialandscholasticworldof youngpeopleduringthe derstanding yearsErnst was growingup."'8The docile sheep and the school bring to mind Ernst's accountof his own rebellionagainstpassiveacquiescenceto social demands at school: "Duties at school were already odious. but the elementary school. 8.1890."'9 with the school setting.)20 he attended le. 113.?. I. rue de Vaugirard.E. the whichprepared Ernstfor the universitywas Gymnasium for boys only. 1890.%. Clement.230 CHARLOTTE STOKES . .-?. des attaquant 3 A... Indeedthe verysoundof the wordPflicht[duty] Taken alwaysinspiredM.ed. Lieberman.a Paris. (note 7).but Ernstunderstoodthe fundamental aspect of Freud'stheory:thatthe child is the fatherof the man. 22 next appearsin a confusion of erotic figures. op. is the sourcefor the captionaddsto the new regime.. voted to Ernst. noirsou volcaniques.Plate 64 of Lafemme 0oo la partieposterieure menafant. 7). 23 Ernst.Max Ernst's Loplop 23I et agitent. throughout but our knowledge of Ernst'smultipleuse of the engravof the Nestors' violent attackon the passive wild ing French magazineLe tourdu monde. op. 5) flying downward.at leastin the beginningof his career. is haloed by a gaming wheel. animal parts.whileErnstsaysthat he aspired"to becomea magicianand to find the myth of his time.22 caption he is honored again by being given his quasireligioustitle "superiorof birds. and the bird. Paris 1929 far as to say that Ernst's father imposed a rhythm of on his wife." indicatingthat Loplop's power is in driving out older Catholic ideas and 21 Waldberg. Peter's."23 In Lafemme 1oo tetes Loplop in the guise of a Nestor attackingand driving back pilgrims who are makinga In the devotionalclimb on their knees in St.The first appearsin plate 58 (fig. Lesforgerons desforgeset. The new religionis chaos. and musical instrumentsdominatedby a pickpocket(fig. untergehendas in Zarathustra. (note 4). In the I942 View de- the novel.21 pregnancies At the beginning of La femme 1oo tetes. tetes. Both Ernst and his contemporaries refer to his role as a mythmaker. p. Thus he spends. The engravingErnst used for the scene is from the popular .d'unair relevent 6 Max Ernst.The othersurrealistsoften used Freud'stheoriesto justifytheircurrent feelingsandthe need for sexualexpressionandagressive behavior. Loplop appears the noveland the sourcesfor the birdsvary.a good deal of his artisticenergyexaminingthe natureof his past and locating the authentic symbolism of his earlylife. Paris I929 gris. as Loplopin a the chaos. p. 7 Max Ernst.Satan'srepresentative (fig.15 (1867).. 30. nineteenth-century 216. The sleeping woman.Sexy andirreverent.who suggests the mind in the unguarded or dreamstate. cit. both Andre Breton and Sidney Janis mentionthis aspectof his work. the symbol and leader of the religion. and to some practicesand replacingthem with his own religion or new mythology. Et lesfemmes volcaniques de leurcorps. 6). 21. Three birds from the Nestor engravingappearin the plates in the middle of the novel and deal with Ernst's definitionsof his persona.Ernstrecalledthe environdegreethroughout ment and experienceof his childhood. p. cit.The lastof the Nestorsappears collagein which maturemale sexualityis quite literally forgedand knowledgeis confirmedin the presenceof a serpent. Plate 84 of La dansr'airau-dessus tournoieront femme 1oo tetes. 26 EduardTier. l'hommelui-memearrivea voler des qu'il a cesse de s'apprivoiser. the verbal term being translated into a visual image in Dutch Baroquepaintingcould even have come to Ernst while The he studiedDutch art historyat Bonn University.by Ludwig Philippson. "Eroticain vogelperspectief: from Die of Egyptianreligious 8 Illustration symbols Israelitische Bibel.232 CHARLOTTE STOKES civilized order that has intrudedon their naturalstate of the artist'sworking contributesto our understanding methods and values. p.and I7th-century texts clarify the meaningof the termsvogel(sometimesmeaningpenis).trans. 2.told to him by one of his childhood playmatesnamed Philipp. Kunstszene Koln: die rheinische of dreams. That these values and bird symbolism are associated with Ernst is made clear by Jacques Viot: "La civilisationfait dans le basse-cour.Les poules ne volent plus."25Although the word has similar slang meanings in German and in Dutch..he On the funerary significance goes on to say that his mother'sexpression"wascopied a few days from the view I had had of my grandfather before his death as he lay snoring in a coma.first published in 900o. 8]. de Jongh. Cologne 1980. Simiolus3 (I968van een reeks I7de eeuwse genrevoorstellingen. Max Ernst. "Was Max Ernst studiert hat.Thus the code of sexual behaviorwas more lovingly brokenby the youngerrebels in society than any other moralcode. A similarword-playis narrated by Freud. p."28But Freud gave the dreaman overridingsexualsignificance the figureswith the slangterm for sexual by associating intercourse. p.The strangelydrapedand unnaturally 24 Jacques Viot. and trans.About Dutch genre subjects Renaissance. No code is more closely associatedwith ninemiddle-classvaluesthanthe appearance teenth-century of sexualabstinencein the unmarried and sexualfidelity in the married.Vogeln is the word intercourse. peaceful. Leipzig I858. pp. p. The word for bird in Gerfrom man.27 of the dreamimagery."24 The Germanlanguagemakesother associationsbetween birds and behaviorbeyond usual social acceptance. 63. 29 Ibid." in Max Ernstin . vogelen(to copulate)and vogelaar(sometimesmeaning procureror lover). 72 (from the English abstractof the article).vogeln.26 significancein the word-playlies not only in its verbal double meaningbut in its abilityto be translatedinto a visualimage with a wide rangeof associations. 28 Ibid. on her sleeping expression features.offeredErnst his opportunity..vol. 871 figureswith birds'beakswerederivedfromthe illustrations to Philippson'sBible. "Max Ernst. 215-16.. I fancythey must have been gods with falcons'headsfroman ancientEgyptianfuneraryrelief" [fig.. The for sexual Vogel slang slang usageof the word and the picturesof birdsin paintings which carry a sexual meaning go back as far as the if not before. Vogel. de dubbelzinnigheid 25 E. In Theinterpretation of dreams. which Ernst readwhile still a student.New York I965.beingcarriedinto the roomby two (or three)peoplewith birds'beaksand laid tall uponthebed. The interpretation Strachey. 623. p.." 69).ed. 622. James 27 Sigmund Freud. On a ses animauxdomestiques." Cahiers d'art 8 (1933). Freud gives an account of one of his dreams: "in it I saw mybeloved witha peculiarly mother. which contain such doubleentendres de Jongh writes: "Numerous i6th."29 in the visual content pression bis I922. Freud traced the source of the anxietygeneratedby the dream"to an obscureand exevidentlysexualcravingthat had found appropriate of the dream. But Freud also located the .London 1978. pp.In otherdreams.especiallythosetold by Dora in A caseof hysteria (firstpublishedin 1905). aside. Philippe.Paris I934 Details from this anecdote ring throughoutErnst's work. 9)."in Thestandard pletepsychological works. 95-100. Even the disreputablelittle boy who enlightenedthe young Freud had the same name as Ernst's father.The bird-headedfigurewho is both death'sservant and the forbiddenor potentialsexual partneris a themelinkingthe imageryof Freud'sdreamand Ernst's less sedateversionsin Unesemaine de bonte (fig.Max Ernst's Loplop 233 9 Max Ernst.30 reflects similar sources.vol. 7. who figures prominentlyin the artist's writings and visualart. the most importantaspect of the report of this dream is the method of collaginga fragmentof nineteenth-centuryengravingseen in childhood to other imagesto makean imagethatreflectssomecurrentinner reality.the fourthbooklet of Une semaine de bonte. trans. But all the birdimageryand otherparticulars editionof the com30 Freud.James Strachey.Freudidentiand paintfies sourcesfor dreamimagesas photographs Ernst'simagery ings seen by the patientin artgalleries. plate from Oedipe. "A case of hysteria. existing words.32 verbal prototypesbeyond Freud's theories and motifs businessto cultivatean awarenessof such secondhand used in traditional art. a spokensentencein whichthe relationship betweenthe effectiveness partsis expressedover time.imagesthemselvesareremembered chanismis a modernvariantof and justification for the observations from common experiences. 99-IoI. cit.For Freud the value of combinedimagesin a withina singlecollageexpandedto includethe organiza.The me. MICH. eachof whichis basedon a more or less unifiedset of images. OF ART AND ART HISTORY like pre. have this visual syntax in DEPT.31 even contradictory meanings. The bits of unimportant verbalmeaningas well as other associations.the chapters in Unesemaine debonte. 31 Ibid.and positionin relationto other images..234 sourcesof dreamimageryin encyclopedias and medical rhythm. are the source of significantdream In the makingof collagesit becameErnst's Dutch art. dreamfor Ernst is the translation en. as long traditionof such bird images and word-playin Freud pointed out. takeon meaningsaccordingto context. or cathartic The second importantaspect of Freud's childhood purposeseems limited. 32 Freud. if it is a concernat all.the processof making"dream"associationsbecomesa of a verbaldouble tendreinto a visual image which keeps its tie with the new and evocativemethod of combiningimages. the middle-class child of the nineteenth-century. 52-54.dreamwas measuredby how telling the imagerywas in tion of groupsof collagesinto a visualsyntax. pp. In manyof his collagesErnsttookthe ideaof symbolism.Ernst'sskillat organizingimages imagery. . becausethese books createdvisual sentencesand poems of greatsubtletyin were commonsourcesof sexualknowledgeavailableto which the images take on a wealth of complementary. Rather. ROCHESTER. In Ernst'suse of thesemethodsthe therapeutic his childhoodsearchfor sexualinformation. for Ernst the value was in the of the poetic juxtaposition. op. which. Ernstsaw Freud'stheoriesandmethodsas a meansErnst'sverymethodof searching for collageelementsin old booksis itself probablyquite a consciousrepriseof modernand personal-of organizinga work of art. pp. (note 27).OAKLAND UNIVERSITY whichpre-existingimages(bits of engravings).likethatof terms of mental illness. For example.Ernst bookswhichmight be in the home.
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