SALVADOR DALÍ Y DOMENECH - Industrial Life - Prémonition de la guerre civil - image-1
SALVADOR DALÍ Y DOMENECH - Industrial Life - Prémonition de la guerre civil - image-2
SALVADOR DALÍ Y DOMENECH - Industrial Life - Prémonition de la guerre civil - image-1SALVADOR DALÍ Y DOMENECH - Industrial Life - Prémonition de la guerre civil - image-2

Lot 78 D

SALVADOR DALÍ Y DOMENECH - Industrial Life - Prémonition de la guerre civil

Auction 1211 - overview Cologne
02.12.2022, 18:00 - Evening Sale - Modern and Contemporary Art
Estimate: 120.000 € - 140.000 €
Result: 126.000 € (incl. premium)

SALVADOR DALÍ Y DOMENECH

Industrial Life - Prémonition de la guerre civil
1937

Charcoal, India ink, gouache and white bodycolour on chamois coloured laid paper watermarked "MBM Made in France ChPC" (with three flowers). 62.2 x 47.8 cm. Framed under glass. Signed and dated twice 'Dali 1937' (in brush and pen and ink) lower left within the depiction.

The subject was presented in a colour version on the cover of the Sunday magazine "American Weekly" on 16 January 1938. Dalí had worked for the "American Weekly", pubished by W.R. Hearst, since 1934. His artistic contributions enabled him to reach a large readership with his surrealist imagery, but also to propagate his ideas and political ideals at that time: “It is evidently a matter of urgency for Surrealism to adopt an attitude of extreme ideological rigour; in fact, this is not a matter of quality or quantity, but of authenticity. We must be highly rigorous concerning the authenticity of the documents that must serve us to exemplify and illustrate our ideas. On the other hand, I am certain that we must make certain concessions in order to obtain opportunities for dissemination and propaganda, because otherwise our attitude will remain mystical; we need to act at all cost and be materially influential in our time [...].” (Dalí in a letter to Paul Éluard in 1934, quoted from: Salvador Dalí, Rétrospective, exhib. cat. Paris 1979/1980, p. 300).
Dalí's critique of the cynicism that underlies civilisational processes and political developments is obvious in this important drawing of pictorial composition which allows a range of different interpretations, even today. The subtitle is a direct reference to one of the artist's main works, his painting “Construction molle avec haricots bouillis - Prémonition de la guerre civile" of 1936 (Philadelphia Museum of Art). But there are also references to other paintings created in 1937 (“Cannibalisme d'automne”, “Girafe en feu”, “L'Énigme d'Hitler”, and “L'Invention des monstres"). Many formally abstract compositional elements display a kinship with Pablo Picasso's “Anatomies”, surrealist works created in the early 1930s.

Certificate

With a photo-certificate by Robert P. Descharnes, Paris, dated 4 March 1996 (archive nr. D-510/1133)

Provenance

Galerie Jan Krugier, Geneva (1978) (2 labels verso "Predizione di guerra civile"); Jerald Melberg Gallery Inc., Charlotte, North Carolina (label verso); Estate William H. van Every, Jr.; Private collection, France

Literature

The American Weekly, New York, 16th January, 1938 (ill. on the cover) - cf. Felix Fanés, Advertising and printend matter, in: Exhib. cat. It's all Dali, op. cit. 2004/2005, p. 316 with colour ill. p. 336/337; exhib. cat. Surrealismo, I Evi Arte Moderna, Milano 1974, no. 48 with ill.

Exhibitions

London 1978 (Hayward Gallery), Dada & Surrealism Reviewed, no. 1243 with ill. (label of the Arts Council of Great Britain to the reverse); Venice 1979 (Palazzo Grassi), La Pittura Metafisica, no. 124 (label to the reverse); Bologna 1983 (Galleria Marescalchi), I Surrealismi, p. 48 with ill.; Barcelona/Madrid/St. Petersburg, Florida/Rotterdam 2004/2005 (Caixa Forum/Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia/Salvador Dali Museum/Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen), It's all Dali, Film, Fashion, Photography, Design, Advertising, Painting, with colour ill. p. 337