Salvador Dali, who was born in Figueras in Catalonia in 1904 and died there 85 years later, was one of the most important of the Surrealists. Simultaneously a painter, writer, filmmaker and, above all, a showman, the artist created an enormous wealth of material by means of his versatile talents. With his self-dramatization and skilful establishment of his own personality as a work of art, he was a model for many other 20th-century artists. In their acknowledgements to "Salvador Dali: Catalogue Raisonne of Prints I - Etchings and Mixed-Media Prints, 1924-1980", published in 1993, authors Ralf Michier and Lutz W. Loepsinger thanked Robert Descharnes, Dali's personal secretary of many years, for "protecting us from the small band of interested parties who tried to obstruct our research, even into forgeries, by means of intimidation, threats of litigation, and intrigue." Although Dali produced far fewer lithographs and wood engravings than etchings and mixed-media graphics, the problems encountered by the authors for this second volume were in no way diminished, as once again there exist a large number of forgeries that were made on signed sheets of blank paper. This title illustrates the total output of this bizarre period of the artist's life. Until 1956, Dali rejected lithography as an artistic medium. He considered the technique "weak and bureaucratic". It was only the insistence of the publisher Josef Foret that led him to become more involved, in a predictably unconventional fashion, however. He worked on stone, both on the Paris streets and in his garden in Cadaques. Light bulbs filled with lithographic ink were smashed against stone, or ink-filled bullets were fired at printing plates from antique rifles or crossbows to produce the first tachist graphics in history.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
As with Vol. 1, this is imperfect but still the best source available!,
By Mendicant Pigeon "Mendicant Pigeon" (pdx, or United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Dali : Catalogue Raisonne of Prints II Lithographs (Hardcover)
This book was a rather daring undertaking. As you probably know many years and many lines of print were spent decrying the plethora of Dali forgeries and photomechanical reproductions of his works printed on pre-signed paper. It was a scandal, it was scandalous, to be sure. So, for instance, when I was involved with the sale of prints by Dali, an editorical choice was made to never ever sell a Dali Lithograph for the simple reason that there was just too much stink surrounding them. In fact, I was under the impression that virtually all of his alleged work product of lithographs was phony partially because of his self-professed disdain for the medium. This book disabused me of this notion because it is full of very early and often, I hate to say it, visually exciting and beautiful works by the man that really causes one to wish to own some. This book does discuss the scandal surrounding Dali briefly, very briefly, and notes that the editors got far less cooperation from various galleries in the course of their research than they did for the first volume of the catalogue which dealt with the etcthings, etc. No mention was made of the multi-million dollar judgment against Center Art Galleries in Hawaii, for instance, that was apparently responsible for a whole boat load of the inauthentic stuff. Anyway, the book is broken up into three parts. The introductory discussion, roughly 75 pages of well-done full color reproductions and roughly 100 pps. of cataloguing data recording edition size, printer, medium, etc. I don't believe that any of the photomechanical reproductions produced by Center are included but I do notice a Center Art Gallery commissioned series or two. In that vein, the page dedicated to known forgeries and unauthorized edtions is only about, well one half page. This seems far too short, and the editors admit to the herculean task it would be to get more extensive and accurate information in print. Suffice it to say that a lot of swamp land ground was not covered. I'd recommend sticking strictly to the, ahem, book in your search for Dali Lithographs and let the sands of time sort out the sordid bits in another, different book. This comes with my highest recommendation especially for print collectors.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great Resource,
This review is from: Dali : Catalogue Raisonne of Prints II Lithographs (Hardcover)
The Catalogue is better organized and easier to read than Albert Fields' Graphic Works of Salvador Dali. Unfortunately, most pictures are in black and white.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
MUST HAVE IT,
By Mordecai Richler "Avshalom" (Shanghai) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Dali : Catalogue Raisonne of Prints II Lithographs (Hardcover)
A MUST for any seriuos collector and honest dealer. Dali's lithos are among the most forged works of art in the world: you can find forgeries at auctions, for often auctioneers have no idea and/or sell just for cash (the same all over the world, also in China, where I live, and where I have seen both fakes tout court and original with forged signatures in Beijing and Shanghai). The best money you can invest for your Dali collection!
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