Maniac Eyeball: The Unspeakable Confessions of Salvador Dali (SOLAR ART DIRECTIVES 3) [Paperback]

SALVADOR DALI (Author)

Book Description

Series: SOLAR ART DIRECTIVES 3 | Publication Date: January 31, 2009

"Maniac Eyeball is the third, final and most comprehensive volume of autobiography written by the late Salvador Dali. "Maniac Eyeball contains the frank and uncensored confessions of Salvador Dali, from his childhood and first adolescent sexual experiences to his emergence as a painter, surrealist and eventually the most famous-and possibly richest-artist of modern times. These inspired tracts, covering art, love, sex, money, death, fame, science, his famous friends and enemies, and his extraordinary creative genius, reveal the intricate workings of Dali's mind to create not only an unparalleled autobiography, but also one of the key surrealist texts yet published.

Salvador Dali (1904-"1989) entered the ranks of the Surrealists in 1929 with a series of iconoclastic paintings which fused technical virtuosity with Freudian infantilism, leading to his invention of the "paranoiac-critical" method. Later expelled from the surrealist group, he was christened "Avida Dollars" by Andre Breton while acquiring the reputation of master showman and scandalist. His art and writings remain among the most unique and important bodies of work of the 20th century.

"Dali's paintings reveal in the most powerful form the basic elements of the Surrealist imagination: a series of equations for dealing with the extraordinary transformations of our age. Let us salute this unique genius, who has counted for the first time the multiplication tables of obsession, psychopathology and possibility"-J.G. Ballard

Volume One of Creation Art Directives, a new series devoted to promoting the avant-garde
Contains over 100 photos, illustrations and paintings by Dali
Cover quote by J.G.Ballard
Companion toCreation's successful "Diary Of A Genius (20,000 sold to date)

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Salvador Dali (1904–1989) entered the ranks of the Surrealists in 1929 with a series of iconoclastic paintings which fused technical virtuosity with Freudian infantilism, leading to his invention of the "paranoiac-critical" method. Later expelled from the Surrealist Group, he was christened "Avida Dollars" by Andre Breton whilst acquiring the reputation of master showman and scandalist. His art and writings remain amongst the most unique and important bodies of work of the 20th Century. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

HOW TO CONQUER PARIS I was dreaming not of love but of glory, and I knew that the road to success led through Paris. But in 1927 Paris was far from Figueras, far away, mysterious, and big. I landed there one morning with my sister and aunt, to judge its distance and size, as a boxer does during a round of studying his opponent. First I discovered Versailles (and continued to like the Escorial better) and the musty Musee Gravin waxworks. My self-confidence increased daily, but nothing essential had been accomplished. What I needed was the accolade of the only Parisian who mattered in my eyes: Pablo Picasso. I had carefully prepared my way to him. I knew that Picasso had seen one of my paintings in Barcelona, Muchacha de Espaldes (Rear View Of A Girl; known in English as Girl's Shoulder or Girl's Back), and had liked it: he had mentioned it to his dealer, Paul Rosenberg, who had written me out of the blue to ask for some photographs of my work. I had asked a friend of Lorca's, the Cuban painter Manuel Angel Ortiz, to take me to Picasso's studio. As soon as I got to 23 Rue La Botie, I knew those two jet-black button eyes of his had recognized me. I was "the other one" - the only one able to stand up to him. (In truth, now I know the world was a little too small for the two of us. Fortunately, I was still young!) I respectfully tendered a gift to him, another Figueras muchacha such as the one he had appreciated, and it took me quite a while to extricate it from its mummy's wrappings; but it was a real live painting that came out of the diapers and it seemed to me that as he looked at it, it took on a sudden new life. Picasso spent a long while, scrutinizing it minutely, and it had never looked finer to me. From that minute on, he was at great pains to dazzle me. My opening agitation was now replaced by assurance, as he took me into his studio on the floor above and for two hours kept displaying his paintings for me, the largest as well as the smallest, which he put on his easel. He went to and fro, choosing, weighing, setting up, silent and quick, stepping back, carefully inspecting his own genius but dancing his courtship dance for me alone and looking at me with long looks of complicity. We each knew who we were. Our mutual silence was charged with an electricity of the highest potential...

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Solar Books; New Revised edition (January 31, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0979984734
• ISBN-13: 978-0979984730
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #622,301 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dalí on Dalí, August 29, 2011

By 

wiredweird "wiredweird" (Earth, or somewhere nearby) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Maniac Eyeball: The Unspeakable Confessions of Salvador Dali (SOLAR ART DIRECTIVES 3) (Paperback)

I don't believe a word that Dalí said in this book. Nor do I disbelieve anything. Mostly, I think the literal truth of any statement he makes is irrelevant. You should treat this as a Dalinian self-portrait in words, as vivid, precise, and impossible as any of his paintings.

Dalí makes it clear that Dalí's biggest achievement is Dalí. He recounts even his masturbations and defecations. Nothing is mundane in his world. Everything has some glow of the holy, profane, crass, or inspiring, and it's not clear that there's any difference. He is free with his opinions on the famous names in his circle, including Picasso and Coco Chanel. He's also free with his opinions on art, or rather on artists, especially the Spanish and most especially the Catalan. Dalí is proudly Catalan, so it's only natural that artists would rise in his esteem as they become more the way he sees himself.

It's not quite clear how much of the wording is literally Dalí's and how much came from Andre Parinaud, the compiler and editor. The book's underlying time-line is quite linear, not a trait I associate with Dalí's writing. Even so, this book gives an other-worldly look into Dalí's incredible mind.

-- wiredweird

0 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A biography would be better..., July 9, 2011

By 

Douglas A. Call (Long Beach, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Maniac Eyeball: The Unspeakable Confessions of Salvador Dali (Creation Art Directives) (Paperback)

I bought the book based on the promise of "unspeakable confessions." What I got was an extremist portraying himself as such and not a lot of confessing. I couldn't decipher between Dali's real life experiences and his overactive imagination. I only got through about 3/4 of the book before I had enough; kinda felt like Dali was desperately trying to prove himself 'surreal'. The book would have benefited from more input from an outsiders perspective to help separate the real from the ramblings of a maniac.