She Guards Her Secret (Elle garde son secret) from Natural History (Histoire naturelle)

She Guards Her Secret (Elle garde son secret) from Natural History (Histoire naturelle) is a definitive print by the German-born Surrealist pioneer Max Ernst, executed circa 1925 and formally published in 1926. This piece is one of 34 works comprising the seminal portfolio Histoire naturelle (Natural History), which explores the subconscious interpretation of found textures.

Technically, the artwork is a collotype reproduction based on Ernst’s innovative use of frottage, a graphic technique he pioneered earlier that year. Frottage involves placing paper or canvas over textured materials, such as wood grain, wire mesh, or leaves, and rubbing with a soft medium like a graphite pencil to transfer the pattern. This process allowed the artist to surrender conscious control, inviting the resulting patterns and textures to spontaneously suggest abstract, biomorphic, or fantastical forms, aligning perfectly with the core tenets of Surrealist automatism.

The resulting image in She Guards Her Secret merges the mechanical replication of texture with deeply personal visions. The composition is characterized by a dense matrix of swirling, protective shapes and interwoven lines that evoke both organic structures and geological strata. The title implies a figure or entity defined by hidden knowledge, reinforcing the Surrealist concern with enigma and the mysteries underlying the natural world. Ernst adopted the frottage method as a means of bypassing rational thought, transforming the ordinary texture of the original rubbings into monumental, otherworldly visualizations.

Created during a pivotal period of innovation in the French art scene in the mid-1920s, this print demonstrates how Ernst utilized the reproducibility of the collotype medium to disseminate his radical experiments in texture and form to a wider audience. The artist's profound influence on subsequent printmaking and collage practices is rooted in these early experiments dating from c. 1925, published 1926. This important work from the Histoire naturelle portfolio resides in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), where it serves as a key reference point for the study of Surrealist methodology and the expansion of the print medium.