Rève d'une petite fille qui voulut entrer au carmel

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Rève d'une petite fille qui voulut entrer au carmel

Artist Max Ernst (French, 1891-1976)

Publisher Éditions du carrefour, Paris, 1930

Printer Imprimerie Durand, Chartres

Author Max Ernst (French, 1891-1976)

Date1930

Dimensionscover: 9 3/4 x 7 11/16 in. (247 x 196mm)
chemise: 9 3/8 x 7 5/8 in. (238 x 193mm)
book: 9 5/16 x 7 3/8 in. (237 x 187mm)
page: 9 5/16 x 7 1/4 in. (237 x 184mm)

MediumReproductions: line block reproductions of collages of etchings Text: letterpress Paper: buff tinted wove paper

ClassificationBooks

Credit LineMrs. George W. Stevens Fund

Object number

1987.12

Not on View

Label TextThe organization and visual structure of the collages of this book are closely related to LA FEMME 100 TETES, as in its general preoccupation with themes of violence, sex, mystery, journeys, and the church. As an intellectual nonconformist fascinated by the role of nonrational experiences in shaping human actions, Ernst disdained the rigid bias of the scientific establishment. Through the pictorial imagery of his book, he investigated the world of human emotions dramatized in the visual, episodic tale of a young girl whose erotic desire and religious devotion are manifested in her dreams. This book is Ernst's most complicated and sustained attempt to use surreal imagery to reproduce the quality and the effect of the dream process. Max Ernst, in his introduction, innocently poses the question, "What do little girls dream who want to enter the Carmelite order?" This, the second of Ernst's collage novels, has more narrative continuity than the first, La Femme 100 têtes, but shares themes of unstable identity, sexual passion, false innocence, religious perversity, and violence. Ernst captioned the page displayed here: "Marceline-Marie wakes up, a bit in a dither. She straightens her clothing which, this time, really is indecent, and goes back to sleep smiling. The dream continues."Exhibition HistoryBetween the Wars; Sept. 5 2008 through Dec.31 2008