?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 15,000 - $ 20,000
SALVADOR DALÍ St. George and the Dragon.
Etching, 1947. 450x286 mm; 17 3/4x11 1/4 inches, full margins. Edition of 250. Signed and dated in pencil, lower right. Published by the Print Club of Cleveland, with the ink stamp verso. A superb, dark and richly-inked impression.
Salvador Dalí (1904-1989) was born in Figueres, Spain, where he showed artistic promise and eccentricity from an early age. He went on to study at the Academia de San Fernando in Madrid, where he furthered his unconventional reputation by focusing on avant-garde trends like Dadaism, dressing outlandishly and criticizing his professors. Dalí began traveling to Paris in 1926, becoming acquainted with Picasso, Miró and Magritte who prompted his shift to Surrealism. With his Surrealist oeuvre Dalí introduced an emphasis on the subconscious, producing dreamlike images including his famous 1931 painting The Persistence of Memory (now at The Museum of Modern Art, New York). In 1934, however, Dalí was expulsed from the Surrealist group for reasons including his purported support of the emergent Fascism in Spain and Germany (though he largely maintained an apolitical outlook throughout his life) and his consistent clashes with André Breton. Despite his severed ties, Dalí continued to create Surrealist work throughout his career. During World War II, Dalí relocated with his wife Gala to the United States, returning to Spain only in 1948. Upon his return, Dalí spent many of his remaining years creating his museum in his hometown of Figueres. He died from heart failure in 1989 and was buried in a crypt in the museum.
A prolific printmaker, Dalí experimented greatly with lithography, intaglio and mixed-media prints throughout the course of his career. His earliest prints in the 1930s (see lot 524), including the seminal suite Les Chants de Maldoror, expanded on his Surrealist work. Dalí also used printmaking as a platform to manipulate and satirize art historical references, including takes on master printmakers like Rembrandt and Goya. Through the end of his career, Dalí produced portfolios of varying printed media, each providing a unique window into his creative mindset. While he experimented with new methodologies, including even lithography on Rowlux (see lot 542), the current work is one of the most accomplished examples of traditional etching Dalí created, showcasing his adept handling of the plate. Michler/Löpsinger 59; Field 47-1.
