Capricorn c. 1947 - 1975

Max Ernst made this bronze sculpture, Capricorn, and, I’m picturing him in his studio, wrestling with this material, trying to bring these strange figures into being. There’s something really powerful about the rawness of the forms, right? The way he’s left the marks of his process visible. I mean, look at the texture on the mermaid-like figure. You can almost feel the artist’s hand as he worked. I like to think of the bull-headed figure holding a staff as a nod to Picasso’s Minotaur. Maybe Ernst saw Picasso’s prints and thought, “I can do that, but in three dimensions!” Artists, you know, we’re all just riffing off each other, having this ongoing conversation across time. Anyway, what I like about this sculpture is that it’s not trying to tell you what to think. It just is. It’s there, ambiguous and open to interpretation.