Rain's Thursday Art Date: Surrealism

 

It's Thursday and time to share the latest edition of Rain's Thursday Art Date.  Rain has asked us to share surrealism this week.  I know a lot of people either love or hate surrealism.  There seems to be little to no middle ground.

Surrealism grew out of the Dada movement of the early 20th century.  It was in protest to the war (World War I), logic, and realism.  Dada artists were anti-war and anti-establishment. Dada was inspired by avant-garde works that included collage, a favorite of mine, and Cubism.  Dada (named for the definition of a hobby horse) led to Surrealism, which in turn led to Pop Art. 

Surrealism, at least for me, is best described as the art by Salvador Dali.

The first time I saw a Dali was at a special exhibition at the Nelson-Atkins Gallery in Kansas City, Missouri (USA).  At work the next day, I was so impressed by the art I had seen the day before, I kept telling everyone I had seen a painting with dripping clocks.  For years I described it that way.  Yes, I was young (19) and knew nothing about art.  I knew what I liked, though.  I think that's why art is so subjective.  

 

In case you are not familiar with Dali's (possibly most famous) painting, it is called "Persistence of Memory," not Dripping Clocks!  It was painted in 1931.  The painting, sometimes called "Soft Watches," shows melting pocket watches in a landscape setting. I read somewhere that the painting conveys several ideas within the image, mainly that time is not rigid and everything is destructible.

There are quite a few surrealist artists, but the one who holds my heart is Dali.  He spoke to me with the first piece I ever saw and he has spoken to me again today.  Therefore, all my examples of surrealism are by Dali.

Besides dripping clocks and pocket watches, Dali had a love of elephants.  Note how the swans turn into elephants.  Reminded me of Escher's fish that turns into birds.

As you can see, this is called "The Temptation of St. Anthony."

Landscapes played heavily in Dali's work, too.

Human emotion and sensationalism could be found in many of his works, at least that's how I interpret them.  

 

Dali was influenced by Joan Miro and Hieronymus Bosch.

Dali always had a flair for the dramatic.  He also had a flair for sexual sensationalism. He was never afraid to be brazen and call attention to himself.

 

In 1974, Dali dissolved his business relationship with his manager, Peter Moore. As a result, all rights to his collection were sold without his permission by other business managers and he lost much of his wealth. Two wealthy American art collectors, A. Reynolds Morse and his wife, Eleanor, who had known Dali since 1942, set up an organization called "Friends of Dali" and a foundation to help boost the artist's finances. 

The organization also established the Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida (USA).  I was lucky enough to visit the museum, 

but all I bought was this book of matches.

I was impressed with the way he altered ordinary objects.

In 2017, there was an announcement of an exhibition at the Dali museum in St . Petersburg to celebrate Dali's friendship and collaboration with Italian fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli. The two were known for the joint creation of a "lobster dress" worn by American socialite Wallis Simpson, who later married former King Edward VIII.

 

At the time I created this ATC from an image I found in an art magazine, I had no idea it had been created by Dali.  I made a tape transfer and attached it over a piece of dictionary page as part of one of my free Altered Book lessons I created in 2012.

 

Here's what I wrote about the above ATC:

I'm a pack rat when it comes to quirky magazine images. Way back in January, 2009, I heard on the news that President Obama's White House staff was having difficulty adjusting to the antiquated phone and computer technology they found when they settled into their offices, I remembered this quirky magazine photo of an art assemblage. It was the perfect size for an ATC, so I turned it into a tape transfer and glued it over some dictionary definitions. Click for a larger view to find "from lack of food," "not suitable," "silliness," "inarticulate,"and even "American." I couldn't have picked a better page for a background unless I had found the word lobster!  Please enlarge to see all the details.

"Lobster phone" was created in 1938 and is a fully functional phone.  The tail was designed to fit over the receiver. 

 

I hope you have enjoyed this retrospective on Salvador Dali.  All art was found on various sites on the internet.  The matchbox was the one I got at the Dali Museum in Florida, and the ATC was created by me as part of a lesson on packing tape transfers.

Thanks for visiting today. I hope you enjoyed the Dali surrealism I shared for Rain's Thursday Art Date challenge this week.  Bleubeard wants one of those lobsters for dinner.  See you at Rain's soon.  

 

BTW, I don't "do" spooks or spooky, so I will sit October out at Rain's.  However, I will be by to see how others interpret these themes and to provide moral support.