The unseen Dalí? Surely not. Anyone who ever popped into Dalí Universe, the now defunct gallery on the South Bank which was devoted to the flamboyant Surrealist's work, might well ask. Since there have been so many editions of his well-known sculptures, cast in prodigious numbers both during his lifetime and after his death in 1989, it seems only right and proper to raise a sceptical eyebrow: what more, indeed, is there to discover? And not just this. There’s a further thorny question of authenticity. The posthumous sculptures still manage to fetch a price, of course, because Dalí gave permission for them to be made – so all legal - but purists remain unconvinced.
However, a gallery has just opened in Cork Street, Mayfair, that makes a big promise for its inaugural exhibition: the tantalising prospect of The Unseen Dalí. And, at least just this once, scepticism should be cast aside. Of over 40 works featured at Modern Masters Gallery, many of the drawings, paintings, watercolours, reliefs and collages, including the hand-signed original collage Yellow Napoleon (10), are, indeed, unfamiliar, at least to British audiences. This will be the first time they’ve travelled to the UK.
But you’ll, of course, be far more familiar with many of the sculptures. These include the iconic Lobster Telephone (1)and the Buste de femme retrospectif (11) which balances a baguette, a couple of figures and two inkwells on the head of a nude bust. Made with Dalí’s co-operation for the Galerie du Dragon in Paris in the Seventies, these are among the better recreations of the artist’s seminal sculptures of the 1930s.
Curated by Enrique Sabater y Bonany, the artist’s personal secretary from 1968 to 1981, and Beniamino Levi, who is a lifetime collector of the artist and former curator of Dalí Universe (which closed in January this year), Modern Masters does, surprisingly, offer us an Unseen Dalí. Whether you'll particularly want to see it - well, that's another matter.
- Unseen Salvador Dalí at Modern Masters Gallery until 28 February, 2011
Click an image below to view gallery.
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