Michael Elsohn Ross - Salvador Dalí and the Surrealists: Their Lives and Ideas, 21 Activities

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Ross, Michael Elsohn, 1952

Salvador Dal and the surrealists : their lives and ideas : 21 activities / Michael Elsohn Ross.1st ed.

p. cm.

Summary: Examines the lives and creative work of the surrealist artist Salvador Dal and other artists and friends who shared his new ways of exploring art. Features art activities that engage the subconscious thoughts and spontaneity of the reader.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 1-55652-479-X

1. Dal, Salvador, 1904Juvenile literature. 2. ArtistsSpain BiographyJuvenile literature. 3. SurrealismJuvenile literature.

[1. Dal, Salvador, 19042. Artists. 3. Surrealism.] I. Title.

N7113.D3R73 2003

2002155628

Front cover, clockwise from top right: Salvador Dal, Lobster Telephone, 1936, mixed media, 17.8 x 33 x 17.8 cm, Tate Modern, Purchased 1981, 2003 Salvador Dali, Gala-Salvador Dali Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; Salvador Dal, The Persistence of Memory, 1931, 2003 Salvador Dali, Gala-Salvador Dali Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; Dal in the Theatre Museum, photograph by Melton Casals; Ren Magritte, Time Transfixed, 1938, Oil on canvas, 147 x 98.7 cm, The Art Institute of Chicago, Joseph Winterbotham Collection, 1970.426, photograph courtesy of The Art Institute of Chicago, 2003 C. Herscovici, Brussels / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; Salvador Dal, The Weaning of Furniture-Nutrition, 1934, Collection of Salvador Dal Museum, St. Petersburg, Florida. 2002 Salvador Dal Museum, Inc. Back cover: Fur Covered Cup, Saucer, and Spoon (1936), by Meret Oppenheim. 2003 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ProLitteris, Zurich

Cover and interior design: Joan Sommers Design

2003 by Michael Elsohn Ross

All rights reserved

First edition

Published by Chicago Review Press, Incorporated

814 North Franklin Street

Chicago, Illinois 60610

ISBN 1-55652-479-X

Printed in Singapore by CS Graphics

5 4 3 2 1

To my son Nick

May your life be full of surreal humor and creativity

Many thanks to Peter Tush and the staff of the Salvador Dal Museum for advice and access to archives. I am grateful to the students of Mariposa Middle School who field-tested the activities and inspired me to complete the project.

I offer hugs to my wife and son, who shared the joy of exploring Dalworld and supported my efforts to create this book.

As the curator of education at the Salvador Dal Museum, I am thrilled to have the opportunity to recommend Michael Rosss wonderful new work on Salvador Dal. For years I have waited for an appropriate book to recommend to students and teachers that communicates Dals truly remarkable life and ideas without compromising his complexity in its presentation. I believe that Ross has achieved this delicate balance, providing an exciting context in which to discover the fascinating world of this internationally celebrated Catalan surrealist.

Drawing on more than 25 years of experience as a science educator at Yosemite National Park, Ross has brought a unique sensibility to the world of Dal. His background in ornithology, geology, botany, and entomology has given him the ability not just to present Dals fascinating story, but to capture and engage with Dals ideas. With his lengthy experience of working with children and writing childrens books, Ross opens the door to Dals ideas for a new generation. The joy of discovery associated with scientific research translates well to the world of Dal, an artist who constantly applied scientific information to his paintings. Using extensive hands-on projects and art activities, Ross invites young readers to reexperience Dals discoveries firsthand, providing opportunities to engage in the creative processes of Dals approach to art and living.

Michael Ross is a gifted storyteller as well, and he makes Dals life come alive for young readers. Whether explaining the complex world of surrealism, exploring Spanish and Catalan culture, covering the entangled historical figures from Dals life, analyzing the optical phenomena and symbolism in Dals work, or elucidating the surrealists interest in the unconscious, Ross succeeds where other authors have fallen short. Not only is Dal and the Surrealists appropriate for students and teachers, it will be enjoyed by anyone wishing to rediscover why Dal has fascinated generation after generation of art lovers worldwide.

Peter Tush, Curator of Education
The Salvador Dal Museum, St. Petersburg, Florida

She real purpose of surrealism was not to create a new literary, artistic, or even philosophical movement, but to explode the social order, to transform life itself. Luis Buuel, filmmaker

The Weaning of Furniture-Nutrition (1934), by Salvador Dal

I ts the beginning of the 21st century and a new alternative rock band, Death by Chocolate, has just released its debut CD. It contains poems and tracks with strange titles such as The Salvidor Dal Murder Mystery. Many of the lyrics are free-flying word associations such as Mustard yellow/marinas and Volvos/waistcoats and snug nylon polo necks/deadly gas and the sound of cardboard tearing. Theres a 1960s feel to the band, but its roots go even deeper. They go back to a group of young men and women in postWorld War I Paris who sought a new way to create art in a world that had lost its meaning. This group of creative artists was called surrealists, a name that fit their passion for seeking creative expressions that went beyond reality, or that seemed to be something more than ordinary and real.