Accession Number
117375
Medium
Collage composed of cut engraved elements on tan wove paper, laid down on cream wove card
Dimensions
22 × 18 cm (8 11/16 × 7 1/8 in.)
Classification
collage
Credit Line
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph R. Shapiro
Background & Context
Background Story
Max Ernst's The Chorus of the Shipwrecked: And the Day Doesn't Exist at All (1929/30) is a collage composed of cut engraved elements on tan wove paper. This work from the height of Ernst's surrealist period uses cut engravings from 19th-century sources, reassembled to create a dreamlike scene of shipwreck and mysterious ritual.
Cultural Impact
Ernst's collage novels of the late 1920s and early 1930s are among the most important works of Surrealist art.
Why It Matters
This collage of cut engravings creates a dreamlike scene of shipwreck and mystery typical of Ernst's surrealist imagination.
