Open daily. Always free.
Gnôme

Gnôme

On View

Not currently on view

Robert Michel

Robert Michel belonged to a group of German avant-garde artists connected to such movements as constructivism, dadaism, and futurism. He was also a successful architect and advertising designer, until his work was banned in the Third Reich. The title Gnôme (1987.4) is a rarely used French term for airplane engine. During World War I he was a pilot, but he crashed in a trial flight; thus airplanes had special significance for him and often appear in his work, as do engines of all kinds. A pioneer in collage, Michel drew the piston, cogwheels, and other machine parts in ink and gouache on paper and carefully cut and glued them on glossy black paper.
Artist
Robert Michel
(German, 1897 - 1983)
Title
Gnôme
Date
1921-1922
Medium
Collage with ink and gouache
Dimensions
17 1/8 x 17 7/8 in. Overall
Credit
Elvehjem Museum of Art General Endowment, Cyril W. Nave Endowment Fund and F. J. Sensenbrenner Endowment Fund purchase
Accession No.
1987.4
Classification
Drawings & Watercolors
Geography
Germany

Related

By 1982, Annely Juda Fine Art (London); 1987, purchased from Annely Juda Fine Art (London) by the Elvehjem Museum of Art (now the Chazen Museum of Art)

  • Elvehjem Museum of Art. "Handbook of the Collection." Elvehjem Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Madison, 1990. no. 119
  • Elvehjem Museum of Art. "Artscene." Vol. 3, No. 6, Nov/Dec 1987. p. 1

The Chazen Museum of Art welcomes comments or inquiries about works in our collection. Please allow two–three weeks for a response. Chazen staff is not able to provide valuations or authentications and such inquiries cannot be answered.

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Name*