DALI, SALVADOR (1904-1989) COMPLETE DIVINE COMEDY SUITE Start Price USD 22,500.00 Current Price USD 22,500.00 Time Left - Bid Count 0 Buy It Now Price - Reserve Price - Start Time Sunday, November 16, 2008 End Time Sunday, November 23, 2008 Location Sarasota, FL See more about 'DALI, SALVADOR (1904-1989) COMPLETE DIVINE COMEDY SUITE' Description Salvador Dali 1904 - 1989   Title: Divine Comedy Suite Year: 1960 Medium: 100 Original Woodblock Engravings. Edition: Les Heures Claires, Edition of 3900. Paris, France, 1960, Suite of 100 Original Woodblock Engravings, L'Enfer, Purgatoire, and Paradis. Watermarked BFK Rives paper. Size: 13 x 10 1/3 inches. Image Size: 9 3/4 x 7 1/4 inches Condition: Mint Reference: Official Catalog of the Graphic Works of Salvador Dali by Albert Field p.189-200. Michler/Lopsinger Catalogue Raisonne of Prints II Lithographs and Wood Engravings 1956-1980 #1039-1138. Provenance: Elephaire Zimmerman Collection Private Collection, Washington, D.C. - until present Margaret Kelley, Sarasota, FL   *This complete suite retails between $30,000 - $50,000 at galleries and auction houses!* Individually these woodblock engravings retail between $600 - $1,000 each. $60,000 - $100,000 Value   Dali's Divine Comedy Suite Between 1951 and 1960, Dali created 101 watercolor drawings to interpret Divine Comedy, a classic poem by Dante Alighieri (1265-1321). These works were then reproduced using a wood engraving technique. With this technique, wood engravers carved 3900 blocks for the prints that make up the suite. These 100 woodblock engravings were published as a set of six volumes. Each volume has a title page, a table of contents, and justification page contained in a cardboard slip case with matching inner boards. Each woodblock from the Salvador Dali Divine Comedy is part of a Canto or book chapter which is about 8 pages in length. The size of each sheet is about 13 x 10 1/3 inches with an image size of 7 1/4 x 9 3/4 inches. There are some engravings signed in the plate and some unsigned in the plate. Engravings with plate signatures is rather random, and varies between books. Each engraving comes with a certificate of authenticity for the entire set, and we include the entire Canto/Verse (text, cover page, and illustration, as available).   Dalí, Salvador (1904-89): Spanish painter, sculptor, graphic artist, and designer. After passing through phases of Cubism, Futurism and Metaphysical painting, he joined the Surrealists in 1929 and his talent for self-publicity rapidly made him the most famous representative of the movement. Throughout his life he cultivated eccentricity and exhibitionism (one of his most famous acts was appearing in a diving suit at the opening of the London Surrealist exhibition in 1936), claiming that this was the source of his creative energy. He took over the Surrealist theory of automatism but transformed it into a more positive method which he named `critical paranoia'. According to this theory one should cultivate genuine delusion as in clinical paranoia while remaining residually aware at the back of one's mind that the control of the reason and will has been deliberately suspended. He claimed that this method should be used not only in artistic and poetical creation but also in the affairs of daily life. His paintings employed a meticulous academic technique that was contradicted by the unreal `dream' space he depicted and by the strangely hallucinatory characters of his imagery. He described his pictures as `hand-painted dream photographs' and had certain favorite and recurring images, such as the human figure with half-open drawers protruding from it, burning giraffes, and watches bent and flowing as if made from melting wax (The Persistence of Memory, MOMA, New York; 1931). In 1937 Dalí visited Italy and adopted a more traditional style; this together with his political views (he was a supporter of General Franco) led Breton to expel him from the Surrealist ranks. He moved to the USA in 1940 and remained there until 1955. During this time he devoted himself largely to self-publicity; his paintings were often on religious themes (The Crucifixion of St John of the Cross, Glasgow Art Gallery, 1951), although sexual subjects and pictures centring on his wife Gala were also continuing preoccupations. In 1955 he returned to Spain and in old age became a recluse. Apart from painting, Dalí's output included sculpture, book illustration, jewellery design, and work for the theatre. In collaboration with the director Luis Buñuel he also made the first Surrealist films---Un chien andalou (1929) and L'Age d'or (1930)---and he contributed a dream sequence to Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound (1945). He also wrote a novel, Hidden Faces (1944) and several volumes of flamboyant autobiography. Although he is undoubtedly one of the most famous artists of the 20th century, his status is controversial; many critics consider that he did little if anything of consequence after his classic Surrealist works of the 1930s. There are museums devoted to Dalí's work in Figueras, his home town in Spain, and in St Petersburg in Florida.   Payment Paypal, money orders, cashier's checks, and personal checks (please allow additional time to clear) are accepted. Payment must be received within 10 business days from auctions end or item will be re-listed. Shipping Everything is shipped fully insured via UPS. Shipping cost is $50 unless otherwise stated. International shipments must pay $250. You will be notified when your item is shipped with a tracking number to ensure secure delivery. Please allow 5-7 business days for delivery. If there is a problem with your item upon delivery please us notify immediately and a claim will be filed with the shipping company. Guarantee Everything sold is guaranteed 100% authentic as described or your money back. All artwork we sell comes with a Certificate of Authenticity and Letter of Provenance. If for any reason you are unhappy with your item or if it is not accurately described please notify within 24 hours of delivery of item. All merchandise must be returned fully insured within 5 business days at buyers expense, in the same condition as it was sent or refund will not be issued.   Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions. Thank you for looking and good luck bidding!! kelley3273@comcast.net   Place a Bid!