ROY LICHTENSTEIN, HOMAGE TO MAX ERNST, SCREEN PRINT ON ARCHES 88 PAPER, EDITION OF 100, 1975
Roy Lichtenstein’s Homage To Max Ernst was commissioned for a 1975 portfolio titled Bonjour Max Ernst. The collection contains numerous works by international artists, created in honour of the late German Dadaist and Surrealist.
The German painter and sculptor was one of the leading advocates of irrationality in art. By contrast, the majority of projects coming out of Lichtenstein’s studio are precise and calculated. That being said, Homage to Max Ernst sets out to embrace these paradoxes and dissimilarities. Akin to Lichtenstein’s Modern Head series from a few years prior, the print unites stylistic conventions abstracted from various modern movements. Present in this work are references to Cubism, Art Deco and Constructivism.
Ernst was a pioneer in surrealist collages, which is an artistic direction closely aligned with Lichtenstein’s idiom. Homage to Max Ernst conveys these shared principles through an interplay of dynamic and static forms. The main compositional element is a curving figure, enveloped in a spiral-like formation resembling the interior of a shell. The hovering abstracted form is situated in the middle of the canvas, set against a Greek column and a faux-wood backdrop. The figure is balancing one big and one small ball in each hand, representing the mutually playful nature of both Lichtenstein’s and Ernst’s ouvre.
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ABOUT ROY LICHTENSTEIN
Born in Manhattan in 1923, Roy Lichtenstein was a leading figure in the Pop Art movement during the second half of the 20th century. His distinctive artistic style is inspired by the visual language of consumerism and advertising that pervaded American popular culture at the time, and his work recalls a society of widespread commercialism that has remained powerfully relevant to this day. Learn more about Roy Lichtenstein.
