Larry List's Visit

Larry List and yours truly at the Max Ernst chess set

In the middle of November our US friend Larry List was again in Europe, to visit the Man Ray auction in Paris and once more the Düsseldorf artist Takako Saito (see our last year's short report). Michael Negele has provided a summary (with many photos) about his Sunday tour with Larry to the Max Ernst Museum in Brühl (on 16-11-2014).

Larry List has arrived in a rainy Cologne, you see him in front of the famous Heinzelmännchen fountain.
Larry List has arrived in a rainy Cologne, you see him in front of the famous Heinzelmännchen fountain.

I picked up Larry (arriving from Paris by Thalys high-speed train) at the Cologne main station where we had even missed each other at first, as Larry - driven by a slight impatience - didn't stay on the platform.

After a solid refreshment (see photo above) - not just a feast in style - in the "Cölner Hofbräu P. Josef Früh" (three fried eggs with bacon and fried potatoes - but no "Kölsch" beer) we went - in spite of the rainy weather - on a short tour of the old town, including a sightseeing of the cathedral and a little shopping at "Farina". Then by car along the banks of the Rhine and finally via the Southern City to Brühl where we were so attracted by the Augustusburg Palace that we actually walked past the Max Ernst Museum ... (Unfortunately the museum's page is only available in German.)

The Augustusburg Palace
The Augustusburg Palace

... but that was easy to correct, and first we had a look at the Hans Arp special exhibition, even there we found some chess motifs.

There were surprisingly many chess connections, probably the game was quite important to Max Ernst.

Larry List takes some snapshots
Larry List takes some snapshots

(indeed photographing was not allowed there but they were tolerant to us
- we link a photo of the museum guide)

The poster to the right of the glass cabinet shows Max Ernst - Works 1919-1936.
A few exhibits are depicted in the following photos.

Click above image to enlarge.

Click above image to enlarge.

The exhibition fired Larry's enthusiasm considerably, and I learned quite a lot about Ernst's working methods, for instance "Frottage".
Larry is in contact with the grandchildren of Ernst in the USA, and the production of a replica of the wonderful Max Ernst chess set would be Larry's dream. (A possible replica of the Max Ernst set would only be produced in a very small edition and therefore the price would be extremely high [> 15.000 US-$]. Fortunately the Man Ray set is much less expensive.)

Here is still a link to the Man Ray chess set, supposedly Larry List has contributed to this replica.
Moreover explanations of the Max Ernst chess set, unfortunately a replica doesn't exist.
And here quite broadly: www.chess-museum.com/modern-and-modernist---special-show.html

Unfortunately the most famous chess work of Max Ernst, "The King playing with the Queen", had been "flown out" to Rolandseck, so we had to be satisfied with other chess motifs. (www.fondationbeyeler.ch/en/collection/conservation/restauration-ernst)

Another chess set
Another chess set

here an enlarged image.

Dorothea Tanning Max in a Blue Boat, 1947 Oil on canvas
Dorothea Tanning
Max in a Blue Boat, 1947
Oil on canvas

Furthermore a poster Room VIII - The years in the USA (1941-1949).

Here we also like to point to the nice publication of the "Kulturstiftung der Länder". See www.kulturstiftung.de/publikationen/patrimonia/... (in German) and the cover / verso.

At about 5 pm (Augustusburg then lay in the sun) we moved to Düsseldorf where we concluded our intensive exchange by a simple Italian evening meal.

22 more photos (posters of former exhibitions in the Max Ernst Museum as well as several objets d'art) are gathered in this gallery.

Michael Negele
(Translation by R.B.)

The following Monday the weather was much better and we, i.e. Larry List, Wolfgang Angerstein and your webmaster met in Düsseldorf for a dinner - below we give a photo of us in the very atmospheric restaurant "Bistro Zicke", located in the "Altstadt". (You will find a better gallery on this page.) Afterwards we still enjoyed a short walk through the old town in the Rhine neighborhood where Wolfgang Angerstein turned out to be a very expert guide of the city.

From left: Ralf Binnewirtz, Larry List and Wolfgang Angerstein - the room was quite full and rather hot, so normally you had to take off your jacket ... (Photograph courtesy of Wolfgang Angerstein)
From left: Ralf Binnewirtz, Larry List and Wolfgang Angerstein - the room was quite full and rather hot, so normally you had to take off your jacket ... (Photograph courtesy of Wolfgang Angerstein)

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