Max Ernst and Euclid

His marriage to Guggenheim did not last. In October 1946 he married American Surrealist painter Dorothea Tanning in a double ceremony with Man Ray and Juliet P. Browner in Beverly Hills, California. The couple made their home in Sedona, Arizona, from 1946 to 1953, where the high desert landscapes inspired them and recalled Ernst's earlier imagery. Although Sedona was remote and populated by fewer than 400 ranchers, orchard workers, merchants and small Native American communities, their presence helped begin what would become an American artists' colony. Among the monumental red rocks, Ernst built a small cottage with his own hands on Brewer Road and he and Tanning hosted intellectuals and European artists such as Henri Cartier-Bresson and Yves Tanguy. Sedona proved an inspiration for the artists and for Ernst, who compiled his book Beyond Painting and completed his sculptural masterpiece Capricorn while living in Sedona. As a result of the book and its publicity, Ernst began to achieve financial success. From the 1950s he lived mainly in France. In 1954 he was awarded the Grand Prize for painting at the Venice Biennale. He died at the age of 84 on 1 April 1976 in Paris and was interred at Père Lachaise Cemetery.

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Two abstracted creatures, one resembling a goat holding a staff and the other a stylized mermaid, sit facing us on on a rectangular base in this free-standing bronze sculpture. The head of the goat creature, to our left in this photograph, has wide horns to either side of a ridge suggesting a heavy brow. The triangular head tapers down to a ring that suggests the muzzle of the goat. The body is made up of broad geometric shapes. There is a stylized phallus where the body meets the block we read as a lap, and two rounded forms suggestive of human feet protrude from the base of that block. The creature reaches out with his right arm, to our left, to wrap a large, human fist around the staff. The staff swells and narrows in angular hourglass shapes and is topped by what could be a rectangular, abstracted face with two eye holes, a flattened nose, and a slit for a mouth. The goat’s other hand rests near that knee, and in it he holds a creature about the height of the goat’s torso. That smaller creature has a scooped, cup-like form where the head would be, a long neck, and two mounds reminiscent of breasts above a textured fish’s tail. Below, as if affixed to the front of the goat’s lap, a disk-like face has two rings for eyes and a tongue protruding from a round mouth. Other forms over the forehead and one next to the face read as flattened hands or claws. Next to the large goat creature, to our right, the second, tall creature has a head made up of a disk with two mounds for eyes and a beak stacked in front of a second, larger disk. A form like an abstracted fish or arrow moves through or behind her head. The creature has a long, slender neck and an armless torso, shaped roughly like the body of a violin. The torso has rounded shoulders, two mounds to suggest breasts, and a hole for a belly button. Her textured fish’s tail curves down so the fin falls slightly over the front of the base on which they sit. The bronze surface of the sculpture varies from dark brown to faint gold where the light catches it. The sculpture and bronze base sit on a white platform. The floor beneath is pale pink, shiny marble and the wall behind is made up of stone panels streaked with gray.

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Two abstracted creatures, one resembling a goat holding a staff and the other a stylized mermaid, sit facing us on on a rectangular base in this free-standing bronze sculpture. The head of the goat creature, to our left in this photograph, has wide horns to either side of a ridge suggesting a heavy brow. The triangular head tapers down to a ring that suggests the muzzle of the goat. The body is made up of broad geometric shapes. There is a stylized phallus where the body meets the block we read as a lap, and two rounded forms suggestive of human feet protrude from the base of that block. The creature reaches out with his right arm, to our left, to wrap a large, human fist around the staff. The staff swells and narrows in angular hourglass shapes and is topped by what could be a rectangular, abstracted face with two eye holes, a flattened nose, and a slit for a mouth. The goat’s other hand rests near that knee, and in it he holds a creature about the height of the goat’s torso. That smaller creature has a scooped, cup-like form where the head would be, a long neck, and two mounds reminiscent of breasts above a textured fish’s tail. Below, as if affixed to the front of the goat’s lap, a disk-like face has two rings for eyes and a tongue protruding from a round mouth. Other forms over the forehead and one next to the face read as flattened hands or claws. Next to the large goat creature, to our right, the second, tall creature has a head made up of a disk with two mounds for eyes and a beak stacked in front of a second, larger disk. A form like an abstracted fish or arrow moves through or behind her head. The creature has a long, slender neck and an armless torso, shaped roughly like the body of a violin. The torso has rounded shoulders, two mounds to suggest breasts, and a hole for a belly button. Her textured fish’s tail curves down so the fin falls slightly over the front of the base on which they sit. The bronze surface of the sculpture varies from dark brown to faint gold where the light catches it. The sculpture and bronze base sit on a white platform. The floor beneath is pale pink, shiny marble and the wall behind is made up of stone panels streaked with gray.