Description

Salvador Dali Original Study for ‘les Songes Drôlatiques de Pantagruel’

Genuine and authentic rough ink study by Salvador Dali

Based on a woodcut from a 1565 book by François Rabelais

The drawing bears the Dali signature bottom right

Size : 32,5 x 23 cm

Drawing is in absolute mint condition

Comes with COA and back-up documents from the Sidney Janis Gallery, New York

Info on original book and woodcuts :

In 1565, twelve years after the death of François Rabelais (1494-1553) – the French Renaissance author best known for his satirical masterpiece The Life of Gargantua and of Pantagruel, the bawdy tale of two giants, Gargantua and his son Pantagruel – the Parisian bookseller and publisher Richard Breton brought out Les songes drolatiques de Pantagruel (The drolatic dreams of Pantagruel). The slim volume, save a short preface from Breton, is made up entirely of images – 120 woodcuts depicting a series of fantastically bizarre and grotesque figures, reminiscent of some of the more inventive and twisted creations of Brueghel or Bosch.

Title of the book : Les Songes drolatiques de Pantagruel, ou sont contenues plusieurs figures de l’invention de ‘maistre’ François Rabelais & derniere oeuvre d’iceluy, pour la recreation des bons esprits.

First printing of full-page woodcut compositions. The designer identified by Jean Porcher would be François Desprez, artist and embroiderer whose printer Richard Breton had just published the Collection of the Diversity of Habits (1562).

“This series of figures reveals a funny imagination, a dizzying caricature verve.

These crazy images, these hybrid figures are inspired by Gothic humours, the fashion for grotesques, the works of Brueghel, not without addressing in an insidious way the confessional controversies targeting the Roman Church: one puppet is decked out in a miter, another of what looks very much like a tiara; a third, elephantine, sketches the gesture of blessing…

Information on Salvador Dali

Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, 1st Marquess of Dalí de Púbol (11 May 1904 – 23 January 1989) was a Spanish Surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship and the striking and bizarre images in his work.

Born in Figueres, Catalonia, Dalí received his formal education in fine arts at Madrid. Influenced by Impressionism and the Renaissance masters from a young age, he became increasingly attracted to Cubism and avant-garde movements. He moved closer to Surrealism in the late 1920s and joined the Surrealist group in 1929, soon becoming one of its leading exponents. His best-known work, The Persistence of Memory, was completed in August 1931, and is one of the most famous Surrealist paintings. Dalí lived in France throughout the Spanish Civil War (1936 to 1939) before leaving for the United States in 1940 where he achieved commercial success. He returned to Spain in 1948 where he announced his return to the Catholic faith and developed his “nuclear mysticism” style, based on his interest in classicism, mysticism and recent scientific developments.

Dalí’s artistic repertoire included painting, graphic arts, film, sculpture, design and photography, at times in collaboration with other artists. He also wrote fiction, poetry, autobiography, essays and criticism. Major themes in his work include dreams, the subconscious, sexuality, religion, science and his closest personal relationships. To the dismay of those who held his work in high regard, and to the irritation of his critics, his eccentric and ostentatious public behavior often drew more attention than his artwork. His public support for the Francoist regime, his commercial activities and the quality and authenticity of some of his late works have also been controversial. His life and work were an important influence on other Surrealists, pop art and contemporary artists such as Jeff Koons and Damien Hirst. There are two major museums devoted to his work: The Dalí Theatre-Museum in Figueres, Spain and the Salvador Dalí Museum in Florida.

Excerpt of an article in the New York times in 1970 after his appearance on the Dick Cavett Show : ‘Dalí was a skilled draftsman, best known for the striking and bizarre images in his surrealist work. His painterly skills are often attributed to the influence of Renaissance masters. His best-known work, The Persistence of Memory, was completed in 1931. Dalí’s expansive artistic repertoire includes film, sculpture, and photography, in collaboration with a range of artists in a variety of media. Dalí was highly imaginative, and also had an affinity for partaking in unusual and grandiose behavior. His eccentric manner and attention-grabbing public actions sometimes drew more attention than his artwork to the dismay of those who held his work in high esteem and to the irritation of his critics.

Dalí employed extensive symbolism in his work. For instance, the hallmark “soft watches” that first appear in The Persistence of Memory suggest Einstein’s theory that time is relative and not fixed. The elephant is also a recurring image in Dalí’s works. It first appeared in his 1944 work Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening. The egg is another common Dalíesque image. He connects the egg to the prenatal and intrauterine, thus using it to symbolize hope and love. Various animals appear throughout his work as well : ants point to death, decay, and immense sexual desire; the snail is connected to the human head; and locusts are a symbol of waste and fear.’

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