1891-1976. German artist who worked in France
1922-38 and in the USA from 1941. He was an
active Dadaist, experimenting with collage,
photomontage, and surreal images, and helped
found the Surrealist movement 1924. His
paintings are highly diverse. Ernst first
exhibited in Berlin in 1916. He produced a
`collage novel', La Femme Cent Tetes 1929,
worked on films with Dali and Bunuel, and
designed sets and costumes for Diaghilev and
the Ballets Russes. His pictures range from
smooth Surrealist images to highly textured
emotive abstracts, from 1925 making use of
frottage (rubbing over textured materials).