Plate I from "Fiat modes pereat ars" (Let There Be Fasion, Down with Art) 

This is regarded as the first of the eight leaves in the portfolio titled, in Latin, Fiat modes pereat ars (Let there be fashion, down with art). The order of the leaves was not given originally. The numbers from I to VIII used here are taken from the Oeuvre Catalogue of Max Ernst’s graphic works which is internationally accepted. This is considered to be Leaf I. It includes several inscriptions here and there. In a show window labeled "ROBES" (dresses), "homo elegantissimus" (a most elegant man) measures the waist of a clothed mannequin. Both look like jointed dolls, with the mannequin’s head resembling a gas cylinder and the face of the man blank. Behind them is written, "Pereat ars fiat modes" (Down with art, let there be fashion). The most elegant substitute for an artist, it would seem, is a machine without personality.
(NAKAMURA Naoaki)