Max Ernst (1891-1976)
Lot 236 PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE NEW YORK COLLECTION 

Max Ernst (1891-1976)

Volto

Closed6 November 2008

Price Realised

USD 22,500

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Max Ernst (1891-1976)
Volto
colored glass and wood assemblage
glass: 8 7/8 x 6¼ in. (22.5 x 15.9 cm.)
wood: 16 1/8 x 14 5/8 in. (41 x 37.1 cm.)
Conceived and executed in 1964; unique

Weintraub Art Center, Ltd., New York.
Julius Reiner, New York (gift from the above, November 1967).
By descent from the above to the present owner.

Specialist note

Dr. Juergen Pech has confirmed the authenticity of this work.

In 1965, Peggy Guggenheim organized an international exhibition of glass designs by the leading contemporary artists of the day including Jean (Hans) Arp, Georges Braque, Jean Cocteau, Fernand Léger, Le Corbusier, Pablo Picasso and Max Ernst, to be realized at Egidio Costantini's foundry Fucina degli Angeli in the tradition of Venetian glass making. Guggenheim spoke of this daring attempt to encourage leading contemporary artists to work in a medium that was considered staid and overtly commerical stating, "...it was possible to create a middle-ground, half-way between sculpture and stained glass, and that that middle ground would tempt the great painters of the day to try the new medium" (quoted in Sculpture in Vetro, exh. cat., op. cit., n.p.).