Christopher Heath Brown - The Dali Legacy: How an Eccentric Genius Changed the Art World and Created a Lasting Legacy

Fig. 1. Peter Basch, Salvador Dal in Front of Saks Fifth Avenue, 1965

Contents

Foreword

by Frank Hunter, director of the Salvador Dal Archives

I n 2016 I received a telephone call from Dr. Christopher Brown, inquiring about prints by Salvador Dal, especially early ones. He related how numerous people had told him that I was the Dal print expert. Well, I said, I suppose thats not far from the truth. After all, I did publish a print with Dal; I did work on The Official Catalog of the Graphic Works of Salvador Dal (Salvador Dal Archives, New York, 1996); and I am currently the director of the Salvador Dal Archives.

The print I made reference to came about purely by happenstance. In 1974 I happened upon a small book titled La Vita Nuova (c. 1294) by Dante Alighieri. Paging through it, with original poems and sonnets on one page, and English translations on the opposite page, I was struck by the imagery portrayed in one particular sonnet, whose lines begin A ciascun alma presa e gentil core... (To every captive soul and loving heart...). With this sonnet, Dante relates a dream in which the personification of Love appears, holding Beatrice, Dantes obsessive love object, on one arm and on the other, Dantes burning heart, which Love feeds to Beatrice. Incredible, I thought; Dante was a proto-surrealist!

A short time later, I took the sonnet to Dals weekly Sunday salon at New Yorks St. Regis Hotel. I first met Dal here in 1969, introduced by my friend, mentor, and Dals official archivist, Albert Field. My intention was to see if Dal would agree with my plan to create an original etching based on the sonnets imagery. Dal was delighted. He agreed, and a year later, a shiny copper plate appeared, beautifully etched with the figure of Love holding Beatrice. After paying Dal, the printer, and the paper supplier, we published the etching along with a facsimile of the sonnet from the editio princeps.

I tell this story to illustrate how Dal was intrigued by Old Masters, not only artistic ones, but also literary ones. After all, he did produce one hundred paintings illustrating Dantes Divine Comedy , as well as many illustrations, paintings, and graphics based on Cervantess Don Quixote .

The connection between the Old Masters and Salvador Dal had its beginnings when the fifteen-year-old Dal wrote an essay for Studium , a student magazine, describing Leonardo as... the greatest master of painting, a soul that knew how to study, to invent, to create with ardor, passion, and energy... Some years later, he wrote, Begin by learning to draw and paint like the old masters. After that, you can do as you like; everyone will respect you. ( 50 Secrets of Magic Craftsmanship , Dial Press, New York, 1948.)

So it goes without saying that a book devoted to the secret of Dals legacy and successincluding his respect of and admiration for the Old Mastersis a welcome addition to the field of Dal studies. Both Christopher Brown and Jean-Pierre Isbouts are well versed to tackle this intriguing subject; together they have written three books about the father of the Old Masters, Leonardo da Vinci: Young Leonardo , The Mona Lisa Myth , and The da Vinci Legacy .

Over the course of his long, creative life, Dal paid homage to many of the Old Masters, including Velzquez, Vermeer, Rembrandt, Raphael, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Drer, Cranach, and Goya, to name but a few. Dals pointed mustache was probably his greatest and most iconic tribute to Spains Old Master, Diego Velzquez.

Dals reverence is evidenced in paintings, drawings, illustrations, sculptures, and graphic works. In 1971 Dal created a series of fourteen original engravings titled Hommage Albrecht Drer (Editions Vision Nouvelle, Paris). A few years later, another tributea series of six paintings for a set of lithographs titled Changes in Great Masterpieces (Sidney Z. Lucas, New York)paid homage to Velzquez, Vermeer, Rembrandt, and Raphael.

As the authors state early on, how pervasive was the influence of the Old Masters on Dals art, and how did these influences manifest themselves? These are but a few of the many questions this book attempts to answer.

Dr. Brown, who first approached me several years ago seeking information, has since become a friend, as well as an inveterate Dal collector, and now scholar. As Dal was apt to say quite often, Bravo!

Introduction

Begin by painting like the Renaissance masters. After that, do as you wish. You will always be respected.

Salvador Dal

W ho was Salvador Dal, and what is the secret of his enduring popularity today? That is the question that inspired this book. Why does Dal still rank as one of the most celebrated artists of the twentieth century, even though for much of his lifetime he was both beloved and reviled for his uncompromising genius, overt eroticism, and flirtations with megalomania? Indeed, his controversial writings and outrageous behavior alienated not only his critics but also many of his fellow Surrealists. So then, who was this man who every morning experienced an exquisite joythe joy of being Salvador Dal?

This question is even more striking when we remember that Dal rapidly rose to prominence during the roaring twenties of the artistic demimonde of Paris, when all sorts of new and daring Modernist movements were tearing at the fabric of traditional European art. With his prodigious talent, Dal was soon recognized as the public face, the universal brand of Surrealism. However, as his fame grew, so did his pursuit of celebrity and wealth, which, in the minds of many twentieth-century critics, overshadowed his reputation as an artist. Even as late as the 1960s, his provocative art continued to invite bewilderment, anger, and adoration, thus shifting the landscape of the art world and the nature of celebrity itself.