Max Ernst (1891 - 1976) The German painter-poet Max Ernst was a member of the dada movement and a founderof surrealism. A self-taught artist, he formed a Dada group in Cologne, Germany, with other avant-garde artists. He pioneered a method called frottage, in which a sheet of paper is placed on the surface of an objectand then penciled over until the texture of the surface is transferred. In ...