Max Ernst (1891 Brühl - 1976 Paris) (F) 'Chéri Bibi', 1973, bronze, dimensions 33 cm x 17 cm, signed, foundry stamp, numbered 52/175, partially restored, foundry stamp indistinctly struck, with purchase receiptProvenance: Die Galerie, Offenbach a.M.; private collection, HanoverLiterature:Spies, Werner: Max Ernst. Skulpturen, Häuser, Landschaften, exhib. cat. Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen 1998, p. 183 (illus.);Pech, Jürgen: Max Ernst - Plastische Werke, Cologne 2005, p. 20Although primarily known for his innovative techniques in the field of painting, German artist Max Ernst was equally experimental in sculpture. He playfully assembled everyday objects such as spoons, shells, and pots to reinterpret them in the form of bronze figures, which appear both humorous and mysterious. A pioneer of the Dada and Surrealist movements, Ernst valued the medium of sculpture for its freedom, describing it as "more pure play than painting."Born in Brühl, near Cologne, Ernst discovered an interest in art at an early age and taught himself painting and drawing alongside his studies in philosophy and art history. During his time as a student he met August Macke, and through the support of the artist and his circle of friends, Ernst was encouraged to pursue painting. He had his first exhibition in 1912 at the Friedmann Gallery in Cologne, but his career was interrupted in 1914 when he was conscripted for the First World War.Ernst perceived his return from the war as a kind of rebirth and shortly thereafter founded the Cologne Dada group together with artist friends in 1919. The movement propagated a conscious rejection of bourgeois norms and ideals but also as a rebellion on the part of the artists against art itself, in a society from which they felt increasingly distant due to their wartime experiences. Dada remained relatively short-lived as a movement, however, and as early as 1924 Max Ernst signed the "Manifeste du Surréalisme" in Paris. Similar to the Dadaists, the Surrealists used chance as an important principle in their work with the goal - based on the psychological theories of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung - of giving pictorial form to the processes of the subconscious. Although Max Ernst left the movement as early as 1938 due to personal differences, this psychological approach remained of great importance for his works.In the late work "Chéri Bibi", a chick-like creature smiles crookedly out towards the viewer. Although composed of stark geometric shapes, the figure appears lively and mischievous. The pointed beak and shining eyes are reminiscent of the bird motifs that run like a thread through Ernst's entire oeuvre. The painter's perhaps most famous bird figure was the character "Loplop", " which the artist integrated almost like a self-portrait in many of his works as a symbolic representation of his own ego. The title of this piece refers to Gaston Leroux's eponymous novel character Chéri Bibi: a butcher's boy who escapes from prison numerous times after being arrested for a crime he didn't commit.