Posted on 02/08/2018 11:37:13 AM PST by nickcarraway
Two rediscovered Dalí paintings up for sale for first time
Two rediscovered masterpieces by Salvador Dalí will go under the hammer for the first time later this month.
Both works were sold directly to an Argentine noblewoman, the Countess de Cuevas de Vera by the artist in the 1930s and have remained in the family’s private collection ever since.
But now the pair are to be sold at auction by London’s Sotheby’s in the Surrealist Art Evening Sale on February 28th.
Tota Cueva de Vera on the porch of her home. Photo: John Phillips / Sotheby's
The Countess, known to all as Tota, divided her time between Argentina and Europe became a great friend and patron to the artists of the day including Dali, Picasso, Cocteau, Giacometti, Max Ernst, Le Corbusier, Man Ray as well as the Spanish surrealist filmmaker Luis Buñuel.
The two artworks that are offered on sale are characteristic of Dalís early Surrealist style.
“Painted in 1931, Gradiva is a jewel-like composition that unites Dalí’s unique painterly vision with the technical virtuosity characteristic of his early Surrealist art,” explains the Sotherby’s catalogue.
“Maison pour érotomane (circa 1932) also dates from the height of Dalí’s Surrealism and depicts a Catalan landscape, its rocks metamorphosing in front of the view’s eyes into a fantastical, dream-like image, dominated by two entities.
“The one on the left appears to be a horse rising from the ground, its extremities seeming to transform into a cello and a car. Two spear-like shapes penetrate the form on the right, which in turn appears to be an intangible, yet somewhat anthropomorphic rock. It was such hallucinatory compositions, giving a visual manifestation to the realm of the subconscious, that so impressed Sigmund Freud, who first met the artist in 1939.”
Both have an estimated guide price of £1,200,000-1,800,000.
Dali: I don’t use drugs, I AM drugs
The Grand Rapids Art Museum has his "Twelve Tribes" series -- somewhere -- they got a pro curator about 20 years ago, and he looked at what was on the walls, and then looked at the works in storage, and said, uh, why aren't these out? Of the Surrealists, he's the only one I've ever taken seriously as an artist. He got ejected from the Surrealist movement because Andre Breton thought he wasn't sufficiently dedicated to the downfall of Hitler. But anyway, you probably know all this, I'll shuddup now.
Amusing sexual objectification of Mae West. Come to think of it, without sexual objectification, there would have *been* no Mae West...
I wasn’t familiar with it, but I’ve looked up the lithographs online; very interesting, if a bit Catholic for me.
In addition to my one original Dali, I have a couple of original lithographs — my favorite being the Judgement of Paris — not an expensive piece and a bit scandalous for Mrs. Jewbacca so it is relegated to an inside hallway.
Regarding the 12 tribes, my father bought 12 signed lithographs from a series of 333 that Marc Chagall did of the 12 tribes -— they were sold to fund 12 stained glass windows, ideally destined to be placed in the Temple, should we so blessed to get to build it. I mounted it on raw silver silk mat with a giant gold frame.
Copies (afters) are here:
https://www.masterworksfineart.com/blog/marc-chagall-stained-glass-windows-for-jerusalem-series/
Nice!
Bump the Dali (sung to Rock the Casbah).
5.56mm
Leni
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