Une Pyramide en Colère - Microbes

Micro picture, gouache on paper mounted on black leather. Belonging to the serie “Microbes”.

Interestingly, it is unusually mounted on a black leather surface whose shape reminds the form of France.

A nice, early example of the micro-painting technique developed by Ernst at the end of 1940s while he was living in Arizona (1946/1951).

The "Microbes" usually range in size from a half-inch on one side to over five inches, although most of them are between one and three inches. These series became soon very popular in Europe, where important exhibitions were realized between 1950s and 1980s.

Prov. Galerie Berggruen (stamp on rear) / Pecci-Blunt Collection (hand notes on rear)

Certificate by Galerie Henze & Ketterer, Bern, 2004.

Ref.: 

- Life, 21.1.1952 s. 59 "Twice a year he Laughs".

- Cat. Max Ernst “Sept Microbes”, Paris, Max Ernst & Marcel Zerbib, Cercle d'Art, 1953.

- Patrick Waldberg, Max Ernst, Exhibition Catalogue, Koln, Galerie der Speigel, 1957, repr.

- Sarane Alexandrian, Max Ernst, Interview Patrick Waldberg, Paris, 1971

- Cat. Zurich, Frankfurt, München 1978/79

- Werner Spies, Max Ernst - Leben und Werk, Dumont, Köln 2005, p. 197

Exhibitions:

Bodley Gallery, New York, 1961.