The Cage-Bed with Screen
Artist
Max Ernst
(German, 1891-1976)
Dateca. 1974
MediumMixed media
DimensionsOverall: 106 x 97 1/8 in. (269.2 x 246.7 cm)
ClassificationsContemporary art
Credit LineGift of Mr. Jack Tanzer in memory of Jean Outland Chrysler
Object number82.38
Terms
- Surrealism
On View
On viewLabel TextMax Ernst French (b. Germany, 1891–1976) The Cage-Bed with Screen, ca. 1974 Mixed media Gift of Jack Tanzer in memory of Jean Outland Chrysler 82.38 Max Ernst was born in Germany, but lived much of his life in the United States and France. One of the most sophisticated and enduring artists of the twentieth century, he was a key figure in both Dada and Surrealism, avant-garde movements that were born in the first half of the century and have influenced contemporary art ever since. As sculpture and furniture, Ernst’s Surrealist Cage-Bed with Screen was one of his last projects. It was commissioned from him in 1974 by Modarco, a company based in Geneva, Switzerland. An edition of ninety-nine screens and fifty beds was planned, but production halted with the artist’s death and only fifteen beds were completed. Nelson Rockefeller owned both pieces when he became Vice President, and their installation in the bedroom of his official residence in Washington, D.C. attracted a storm of attention and articles in Time, Newsweek, Architectural Digest, and the New York Times. André Pieyre de Mandiargues, a Surrealist poet, called the Cage-Bed “an apparatus for dreaming.” The elements of the bed (swivel mirrors backed by lithographs, brass cage-bars, a luxurious mink cover illustrated with birds, and sculpted foliage) incorporate imagery from Ernst’s paintings that symbolize night and day, the power of dreams, and the persistence of nature.
