The Young Dali Exhibition Guide

This document is posted publicly for non-profit educational uses, excluding printed publication. To cite include the following: The Dali Museum. Collection of The Dali Museum Library and Archives. Dali Works from 1914 to 1930 Salvador Dali Museum St. Petersburg, Florida The Young Dali: Works from 1914-1930 Director's Comments by ]oan R. Kropf, Curator The Young Dali: Works from 1914-1930 at the Salvador Dali Museum is truly a memorable event for our institution, as it marks the first time in our 13-year history that we have an The Young Dali: Works from 1914-1930 is a selection of art that traces Salvador Dali's early development and the foundations of his style. This new exhibition exhibition of Dali paintings other than our own. In the past, Includes a large portion of the exhibit, Salvador Dali...The Early Years, which was we have been pleased to show some loaned Dali works, but , ^inized in 1994 by the South Bank Centre, London; The Metropolitan this is the first time you will be seeing such a large selection \jM-a-um of Art, New York; the Museo Nacional Centra de Arte Reina Sofia, from other collectors and institutions worldwide. Madrid; and the Fundacio Gala-Salvador Dali, Figueres, Spain. In an effort of this magnitude, there are always many people who need to be thanked, and I would like to begin by acknowledging the co-founders of the Dali Museum, A. Reynolds and Eleanor R. Morse, whose vision first brought the collection to St. Petersburg, Florida, in 1982. And now through their personal friendship with Ana Beristain, curator of the Dali Collection of the Reina Sofia Museum, Madrid, who was instrumental in making this international show pos- sible, future plans have become a reality. From the Fundacio Gala-Salvador Dali, Figueres, Spain, I would like to thank Ramon Boixados, Uuis Penuelas and Antoni Pitxot for their m collaboration in this endeavor and fully extend my gratitude to the Fundacion Federico Garcia Lorca, Madrid, for their . participation. Other individuals who need to be singled out for their help in bringing The Young Dali to St. Petersburg are the collectors: Paul Goodman, Baltimore, Maryland; Roberto Gallotti, Milan, Italy; Ramon Golobart, Barcelona, Spain-and Dawn Ades, co-curator, and Andrew Dempsey, show organizer, of The Early Years, a traveling exhibit of Dali works which toured London, Madrid, Barcelona and New York in 1994-95 and was the predecessor of our exhibit. In exchange for the Dali Museum's collaboration in The Early Years exhibit, the As director of the museum, I would also be remiss if I did museum has received 89 loaned items from those museums and other institu- not thank my museum staff for all their hard work and tions. In addition it will present 42 works from its permanent collection, bring- efforts in the preparation required to present this exceptional ing the total to 131 works. This new show consists of 45 paintings, 55 draw- show in our newly-renovated galleries. ings and watercolors, 31 manuscripts and other documents and provides a thorough examination of the artist as a young man. Its unique focus allows the We are happy to be able to offer these selected works of The viewer the opportunity to move through the variety of styles and influences that Young Dali exhibit and hope that you will discover how this shaped Dali's unforgettable images. gifted young artist experimented and mastered many new art The Young Dali is divided into a chronological survey of his various periods, styles before finding the inimitable Dali style. following Dali's progression up to his entrance into the Surrealist Movement. The Salvador Dali Museum's own permanent collection offers the first example in which the artist portrays himself as The Sick Child, 1914. In this early self- T Marshall Rousseau portrait, one of many in the show, Dali is seated at a table with a view of boats sailing serenely in a bay. The figure seems to be gazing off to the right as if in Director contemplation. Though not a sickly child, Dali's health was very guarded by his Salvador Dali Museum family due to the death of a brother nine months before he was born. This memory of his dead brother impressed in Dali's mind the need to seek his own distinct identity. In 1921, Dali painted two more self-portraits using the diverse styles of several great artists. Set in dark background tones, Self-Portrait (Figiieres) reveals the flamboyant artist's demeanor through the placement of a strong light on his face. This technique is reminiscent of the chiaroscuro effect used by Rembrandt. The other painting, Self Portrait vrith'Raphaelesque'Neck, pictures Dali posed against an impressionistic background with an elongated neck. This work refers to Raphael's unusual medical anomaly that was written about bv his interpreter, Bellori. He states that it was Raphael's "delicate complexion and long neck...that brought his life prematurely to a close." Both paintings are examples of Dali's early exposure to the great masters through extensive vol- umes of the Gowan's art books that were available to him in the Dali house- hold. When Dali was fifteen, he collaborated with four friends and began pub- lishing a review called "Studium." Ln his column, "The Great Masters of Painting," Dali first expressed his opinions of Velazquez, El Greco, Diirer, Leonardo da Vinci, and Michelangelo. Even at an early age, Dali possessed a lit- erary acuity and wrote as compulsively as he painted. 1 020, Dali employs the traditional impressionist technique of using muted light <. inning through the window to create the soft tonal quality of the portrait. In 1922, Dali's father took him to Madrid hoping he would be admitted to the ^[xvial School of Painting, Sculpture and Engraving (San Fernando Academy of Aril. The entrance examination included the completion of a drawing of a spe- c ilk- subject and size. Such a restriction was immediately alien to Dali's inde- pendent and creative personality. By the end of the allotted six-day time period, bis final drawing still did not meet the specified dimensions. Regardless, the sc hool accepted him because of his superb draftsmanship. The Study of a Foot, 1 022, is a fine example of his ability to render an object realistically. !\iii lived at the Residencia de Estudiantes in Madrid and soon joined the elite -'I the intellectual community. Two classmates would prove to be invaluable friends. One was Luis Bunuel with whom he would later collaborate on the surrealist films "Un Chien Andalou"(1929) and "L'Age d'Or"(1930); the other was : edi'rico Garcia Lorca, the great Spanish poet. In particular, the artist and the poel developed an intellectual and emotional connection that endured for sev- Salvador Dali, born on May 11, 1904 in the small town of Figueres near the eral years. Dali soon became the object of admiration of other avant-garde stu- French border, grew up under the spell of the Ampurdan region and close dents at the Residencia. When they discovered that he was experimenting with familial ties. His father, Salvador Dali Cusi, was an eminent notary of the area. ( ubism in the secrecy of his room, they asked him to join in their protests In Portrait of My Father, 1920, Dali's depiction contrasts the dark, formidable fig- Academe. Dali had begun to explore Cubism and Purism after being ure of his father against the impressionistic colors of his native landscape. His to the latest periodicals, such as "Valori Plastici" and "L'Esprit father took a keen interest in his son's studies placing him in several schools \<mveau." He attended exhibitions of cubist works by Picasso and Juan Gris. and encouraging his artistic abilities. Through his father's influence Dali was vl/-Portrait with 'La Publidtat', 1923 exhibits this stylistic change after his arrival introduced to the prominent Pichot family. Dali's father believed that his son's in Madrid. Dawn Ades, co-curator for The Early Years exhibit, describes this por- association with this artistic and musically talented family would be very benefi- ' rait as "a dynamic cascade of shattering lines in which Dali's face is barely visi- cial. Dali was first exposed to impressionistic painting techniques by Ramon ble." Picasso's influence was fleeting, for Dali's genius was to send twentieth Pichot. His attraction to Impressionism was based on the idea that it was anti- century art in a new direction, one that challenged the "cruel hard edges" of establishment and revolutionary in theory. In Portrait of the Cellist Ricardo Pichot, Picasso's cubism. In 1923 Dali's radical nature soon lead to a year's suspension from the This stark geometry con- Academy because of his outspoken objection to the school's failure to appoint trasts with the particular Daniel Vazquez Diaz, a respected painter, to a professorial position. Though he delicacy he used in cap- was not the only student angered by this incident, Dali was identified by the turing every strand of hair administrators as the ringleader responsible for a student walkout and was tem- and every fold of cloth porarily expelled. Not able to return to the art school, Dali attended classes found on the figure. conducted by Julio Moises at the Academia Libre in Madrid. In May of 1924, Dali was Dali's probationary period from school allowed him time to return home where briefly imprisoned as a he became deeply involved in his painting and research. The picturesque town reprisal for his father's of Cadaques, where the family would spend the summer, dominates many of political activities during Dali's early paintings.

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