For all those who want to learn about the position of Max Ernst within Surrealism this is an essential book. Scholarly essays by Werner Spies (arguably the foremost authority on Max Ernst) and William Camfield, who writes in fascinating detail about the transition period when the artist moved from Dada into Surrealism. The period comes alive with rare photographs and anecdotes about the struggles of Max Ernst to survive in Germany after the first world war and his efforts to reach Paris, the promised land. Max Ernst, a true pioneer of many of the art techniques taught nowadays in artschools, such as frottage and collage, is celebrated in this book with not only almost 200 colour plates of many of his masterpieces, but also many lesser known works which show how he constructed his collages. Added to this are inumerable black and white illustrations of the sources for many of his most famous paintings. As Max Ernst never wrote an autobiography,a book such as this is a must for all those who desire to know something more about the artist who is quoted on page 28 as saying "A painter is lost when he finds himself." An artist difficult to know, but this book goes a long way in bridging that gap.

I have been buying art books related to private collections for the past 10 years and this is the most comprehensive book of a private collection that I have seen. I has been divided for the works on canvas, paper, sculpture, art objects, etc. I am also a collector and if I would try to make a book of my own collection I would follow the same format of this book. Finnaly to make this book indispensable is the incledible collection that these two collectors where able to put together and to the Museum that made this exposition posible. To all art collectors this is a must of how an art collection should be.

In his text, Ulrich Bischoff proposes that Max Ernst had earned the right to be known as the leading exponant of Surrealist art of the 1940's and 50's, but since Salvador Dali knew how to present himself in society to greater effect, he inherited the title. Whatever one thnks of Dali's skill as a publicist, his work is different to Ernst's in one sense - Ernst's most potent paintings were done before he came to the U.S. It's interesting to theorise that it was because Ernst was harassed by the Nazis when they invaded France where the German Ernst lived, that he created the decalcomonia technique which decorates what I think are his greatest works - Joy of Life, The Robing of the Bride, Marlene, Europe after the Rain, Day and Night, The Eye of Silence and The Temptation of St. Anthony. This technique of applying the paint to the canvas by pressing it against a flat surface, gives the result a mossy, furry or marshy appearance. This coupled with Ernst's penchance for grotesque mythological figures would have aligned him with Jewish and other non-naturalistic artists considered decadent and perverse by the Third Reich's aesthetic. What makes Bischoff's collection of Ernst's paintings interesting is the evolution of Ernst's style, which would lead him to the decalcomania. As early as 1919 in Family Excursion one sees Ernst's sombre air. I also like The Master's Bedroom, It is worth spending a night in of 1920, done in his Dada period, with the symbolism of the animals, as evidence of Ernst's interest in Freud; the grattage works Vision Induced by the Nocturnal Aspect of the Porte St Denis 1927 and The Horde 1927; and the alien-like Human Form 1931. Even his most celebrated (and personally I think overrated) work, the biblical The Entire City 1935/36 is a prelude to the later beauty, wit and eroticism. Ernst's post- decalcomanic work seems to present him as more restful, perhaps not the best state for an artist. The images are pretty but the soul is at peace. Of note is the 1942 Surrealism and Painting, where he used what Jackson Pollock would later call "dripping".