Max Ernst

Cover from Let There Be Fashion, Down with Art (Fiat modes pereat ars)

1920

Letterpress and line block with collage additions

Not on view

Let There Be Fashion, Down with Art ironically inverts the Latin saying “Let there be art, down with fashion,” thus announcing the end of traditional art. Here the rational world of science and industry have gone awry: the prints display diagrammatic, nonsensical equations, ineffectual measuring instruments, and a dysfunctional system of plumbs and weights. The portfolio also marks the first appearance of the artist’s assumed Dada identity, “Dadamax ERNST,” which supplants his signature on the second sheet.

Gallery label from

Max Ernst: Beyond Painting, September 23, 2017-January 1, 2018.

Medium Letterpress and line block with collage additions
Dimensions cover: 18 1/16 x 13" (45.9 x 33 cm)
Publisher Originally to be published byKairos-Verlag, Cologne, Sponsored by and begun withVerlag Arbeitsgemeinschaft bildender Künstler, Cologne, Completed withSchlomilch Verlag, Cologne
Printer Unidentified, possibly Druckerei Hertz, Cologne
Edition 60 announced; only a few known sets
Credit Purchase
Object number 239.1935.9
Department Drawings and Prints

Explore more

Max Ernst

Max Ernst

French and American, born Germany. 1891–1976 234 works online

A key member of first Dada and then Surrealism in Europe in the 1910s and 1920s, Max Ernst used a variety of mediums—painting, collage, printmaking, sculpture, and various unconventional drawing methods—to give visual form to both personal memory and collective myth.

Learn more →
All works by Max Ernst →

From MoMA Design Store

Installation views

We have identified this work in the following photos from our exhibition history.

How we identified these works
In 2018–19, MoMA collaborated with Google Arts & Culture Lab on a project using machine learning to identify artworks in installation photos. That project has concluded, and works are now being identified by MoMA staff.

If you notice an error, please contact us at [email protected].
Licensing
To reproduce installation views, please contact Art Resource (publication in North America) or Scala Archives (publication in all other geographic locations). You will need to include the object identification number found in the caption.
Feedback
This record is a work in progress. If you have additional information or spotted an error, please send feedback to [email protected].

Licensing

Artwork or archival images

If you would like to reproduce an image of a work of art in MoMA's collection, or an image of a MoMA publication or archival material (including installation views, checklists, and press releases), please contact Art Resource (publication in North America) or Scala Archives (publication in all other geographic locations).

Audio and film clips

MoMA licenses archival audio and select out of copyright film clips from our film collection. At this time, MoMA produced video cannot be licensed by MoMA/Scala. All requests to license archival audio or out of copyright film clips should be addressed to Scala Archives at [email protected]. Motion picture film stills cannot be licensed by MoMA/Scala. For access to motion picture film stills for research purposes, please contact the Film Study Center at [email protected]. For more information about film loans and our Circulating Film and Video Library, please visit Circulating Film and Video Library.

Text from a publication or the archives

If you would like to reproduce text from a MoMA publication, please email [email protected]. If you would like to publish text from MoMA's archival materials, please fill out this permission form and send to [email protected].

Feedback

This record is a work in progress. If you have additional information or spotted an error, please fill out this feedback form.