The National Gallery of Victoria here in Melbourne has a stunning exhibition of work by Salvador Dali called Liquid Desire. Although some of his most famous paintings such as The Persistence of Memory are not in the show, it is the breadth of his work over seven decades in so many mediums including painting, drawing, watercolour, etchings, sculpture, fashion, jewelry, cinema, photography, as well as book illustrations, that make this show so spectacular.
I was familiar with his famous film collaborations with Luis Bunuel as well as Alfred Hitchcock (the dream sequence in Spellbound) and Walt Disney - the amazing cartoon Destino that was shelved back in the day, but recovered and restored a few years ago.
Equally cool and less known to me were the illustrations that Dali did for The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini, a book that many years ago John Patrick Shanley told me was one of the most amazing stories he had ever read.
I was also unfamiliar with the Dream of Venus pavilion that Dali created for the 1939 World's Fair, pictured below.
According to the museum's literature, although it was torn down after the fair, the surviving photographs of Dali's creation mean that is now recognized as one of the earliest full-scale installation pieces. Lured by a siren's recorded chant (sung by B-movie legend Ruth Ford) visitors purchased twenty-five cent tickets from a fish-headed booth, and then passed through an entrance flanked by two towering legs clad in stockings and high-heels. Inside the building, visitors entered a lavish grotto, the centerpiece of which was a nude sleeping Venus, who reclined in a 36 foot-long bed covered in white and red satin, flowers, and leaves. Her dream was staged underwater in the adjacent aquarium, where women wearing revealing costumes adorned with fins and spikes milked a mummified cow, tapped on giant typewriter keys, and answered oversized submerged telephones.
I also learned about Dali's friendship with Harpo Marx, who he sought out as "the most surrealist figure in Hollywood" and saw as a kindred spirit. He even gifted him a surrealist harp with barbed wire strings and teaspoons and forks for tuning knobs.
From the website of the Centre for Dalinian Studies we learn that:
Wow Billy!
This looks like a great thing to see, I wish that I could be there.
On the other hand I have always been so curious about holography, I would love to do something in that technique.
Love!
Elsi :)
Posted by: Elsita :) | July 16, 2009 at 06:39 AM
Thank you very much for this very interesting and informative post. How nice that you could break loose to see this exhibit. I hope it will travel to San Francisco. I enjoyed learning that Dali felt he was a kindred spirit with Harpo Marx; the harp with barbed wire is a stunning gift.
Elsita, I would love to see how you would use the holography medium!
Posted by: dutchbaby | July 16, 2009 at 07:58 AM
I was fascinated by "The Dream of Venus", and I had never heard of it. I thought it owed something to the set design of "The Black Cat" of 1934, which is deliciously creepy. It's descendant would be the set design of "A Clockwork Orange".
Posted by: Janet M | July 16, 2009 at 09:56 AM
The diary of a Genius by Salvador Dali is worth the read.
My son gave it to me.
"If I make a film, I want to be sure that it will be from beginning to end, a succession of wonders, because there is no point in bothering to see shows that are not sensational" salvador dali
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Posted by: Marguerite Horberg | July 17, 2009 at 03:27 PM
Billy!
We just got home and what a beautiful surprise finding your card with the little drawing! I love it!
Elsi :)
Posted by: Elsita :) | July 17, 2009 at 08:49 PM
Very interesting. There are so many things in the world known to some, yet to be discovered by others. I had no idea this even existed. Thank you for sharing.
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I enjoyed learning that Dali felt he was a kindred spirit with Harpo Marx; the harp with barbed wire is a stunning gift.
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