Archive for January, 2008
In my kick-off column of January 18, I noted that I was formerly associated with A. Reynolds and Eleanor Morse, founders of the original Salvador Dali Museum in Beachwood, Ohio, near Cleveland. What a surreal time that was! I mean, plopped in the middle of an industrial park was the world’s greatest collection of art by the world’s most controversial and brilliant painter.
Truth really is stranger than fiction!
The Morses, who owned a plastics company in Beachwood, had to wrangle a special zoning permit in order to locate their massive collection (with all the foot and car traffic it would predictably cause) in an area zoned light industrial. A lot of hoops were jumped through, and political levers pulled (maybe some watches melted?) in order to get the proper ordinance to allow this staid Cleveland suburb to say “Hello, Dali!”
That’s the way the cookie crumbles, er… melts.
In preparation for the opening of the museum on March 7, 1971, Salvador Dali himself came to town for the historic occasion. Since Dali’s mustache went limp at the thought of traveling by air, the Morses arranged a limousine to fetch him from the St. Regis Hotel – where he and Gala stayed during the winters – and motor him up to the Buckeye State.
I recall a charming little anecdote Ren and Eleanor told me about that long drive with their most unlikely celebrity passenger. At one point Dali needed to stop to “make divine pee-pee,” as he liked to described nature’s call. Nothing was ever “normal” with Dali, not even having to use the bathroom!
During their stop, they were a little hungry, so Dali chose to purchase a cookie to bring with him in the limo. However, through some misunderstanding or another, Dali’s selected cookie was suddenly gone. Perhaps there was only one left, I don’t recall, but what he had eyeballed seemed to have vanished from the pastry display case at the eatery at which they made their stop.
“Somebody food my cookie!” Dali exclaimed, in his inadvertently humorous English, and for whom replacing the word “ate” with “food” was perfectly natural.
Look honey, it’s Salvador Dali!
The Morses had a vice-president of their plastic injection molding company, who I”ll simply refer to here as Ed. He told me of a true story that remains one of my favorite Dalinian anecdotes.
A few days before the inauguration of the Ohio Dali Museum, the Morses and Ed, together with his wife and Dali were dining at a restaurant not far from the site of the museum. It was called The Pewter Mug, and I”m quite certain it’s long since gone out of business.
I don’t recall if Gala was present. In fact, although I may be mistaken, I don’t believe Gala even made the trip to Cleveland; she left that bit of business solely to her publicity-loving husband. Who knows, meanwhile, what she was up to, back in the Big Apple, alone with her legendary libido and a stately 16th floor suite at the St. Regis!
Anyway, they’re at dinner at the restaurant, when Ed overhears a woman, dining at a nearby table with her husband, say, “Look, honey, there’s Salvador Dali. He’s eating dinner at that table behind you!”
‘sure, dear,” the patronizing husband replies. “Right – Salvador Dali is here, behind me in this very restaurant, tonight, eating dinner. Right.”
Of course, the story’s conclusion is pretty easy to figure out: the woman insisted her husband turn and look, and when he did, sure enough, there was Salvador Dali! Not the kind of thing you see in a restaurant every day, now is it? The man nearly choked on his Beef Wellington! (Maybe he should have ordered sea urchin – a Dali favorite!)
You’ve come a long way Salvador Dali!
The Dali Museum inauguration in Ohio made headlines around the nation and the world. The Morses finally decided to share a portion of their incomparable collection with the public. It had for years been sequestered in their home on Chagrin Boulevard in Beachwood, until they acquired paintings far too massive for their house (which itself was rather modest, just like the blue Checker taxi they drove as their sole family car!).
Huge masterworks like “The Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus’ and “The Hallucinogenic Toreador” required the raising of the roof at their company headquarters, in order to display them in a special wing devoted to these and many other smaller paintings, drawings, watercolors and graphics.
I lived among these great works during my tenure as publicity director. I lectured almost daily in what was called the Salon of the Masterworks, helping to explain to visitors some of the meaning and symbolism in “Columbus” and “Toreador,” as well as the slightly smaller “Ecumenical Council.”
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If you don’t love the art and charisma of Salvador Dali, I hate to be rude, but you probably don’t belong here. There are plenty of other corners of cyberspace, down the street, satisfying artistic tastes without the melting watches and barbecued giraffes.
Now wait. I’m not saying The Melting Times is a column solely about loving everything Dali. Or that’s going to sugar coat every detail about this protean powerhouse of 20th century art and pop culture. Heck, I may even take an occasional pot shot myself at Salvador. Nobody’s perfect.
But by and large, The Salvador Dali Society’s new column is designed as a comfortable place to kick back, relax, and enjoy being part of a unique community. A special group of folks who “get it.” Who understand and appreciate what Salvador Dali stood for. Which is to say, people who are pretty much galvanized by the Surrealist Master’s amazing talents in an intriguing mosaic of creative expressions.
I personally met Salvador Dali, and can tell you that getting to know him is one wild ride… we’re hoping you’ll come along!
Check Mate!
Speaking of amazing talents, word’s in just today of the death of chess legend Bobby Fischer. Dali loved playing chess. Films and books show scenes and pictures of him sparring with the likes of Marcel Duchamp and, probably even more formidable, Gala! In my vast array of Daliana is an Associated Press photo of Dali posing effusively with Anatoli Karpov at a New York restaurant. The chess master was in New York on his way to Montreal for upcoming international contests.
All of which reminds me of another game of skill – cards, in its multitude of forms – and Dali’s series of mixed media works depicting the Ace, King, Queen, and Jack of diamonds.
An Eclectic Menu… What Satisfies Your Tastes?
The Melting Times will weigh in about everything from Dali playing cards to Dali set designs. We’ll talk about his oil paintings. About his drawings. About his sculptures. About his prints. We’ll discuss books by and about him..films by and about him..and a gazillion other things touched in some way by Dali’s almost magical genius. We’ll muse about Salvador’s childhood, recall amusing anecdotes, and revisit events surrounding his passing, which occurred nearly 19 years ago to this very day (he died on January 23, 1989 at age 84).
About Your Host (a.k.a., A True Dali Nut!)
I served as publicity director of the original Salvador Dali Museum of Beachwood, Ohio (a suburb of Cleveland) in the mid-1970s. The late A. Reynolds Morse and his now nonagenarian widow, Eleanor, amassed the world’s largest collection of Dali’s works. Many of them were exhibited in a wing of their company’s office building. I got to live with those wonderful works every day – a grown kid in a candy store! The retrospective collection is now in the Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida (www.dalimuseum.com), and has been since 1982.
I’ve written widely about Dali, lectured about him, and first got lit by the Dali flame as a high school senior. My parents gifted me the lavish book, Dali by Draeger (1968) – affectionately known as the “candy box cover” book. It remains to this day as probably my favorite of the hundreds of books published on and by the artist (even though the original binding was deplorable!). The following year, as a college freshman in an art history course, I was recruited forever when I saw a slide of “Soft Construction with Boiled Beans; Premonition of Civil War” of 1936.
The painting’s fluid style, vivid colors, and bizarre but tantalizing imagery made for a Lothario-like seduction. I was mesmerized. And my quest to learn as much as I possibly could about this Spaniard’s life and work was off and running, in a race with no finish line (“Enjoy the journey, not the destination!”).
Now don’t get too jealous, but I had the unforgettable experience of actually meeting Dali! (Oh, go ahead… be a little jealous.)
First in 1973, then again the following year, both occasions at the St. Regis Hotel in New York. Wow! Talk about being in the presence of a giant, an icon, a living legend. To this day, whenever the question comes up of whom I’d most like to have met in all of history, my answer comes quickly: “I already have – SALVADOR DALI!” It made me weak in the knees. It changed my life. Hell, it became my life.
Look for details of those meetings with the Master in future weekly editions of this column.
Mad About Dali!
Ok, so now I’ve introduced myself, maybe for the first time, maybe not. But I know we’ll get better acquainted as you return to The Melting Times for cordial visits and to drink in the mind-expanding pleasures of the artist who famously proclaimed, “The only difference between a madman and myself is that I am not mad!”
We think The Melting Times is a fashion-forward new hang spot for people mad about Dali! I’m your host, and I’m delighted you stopped by for a taste. Please come again… we never close!
- Salvador Dalà (Spain 1904-1989), Playing Cards. 1967. Lithograph. 57 x 38 cm. Private Collection. © Salvador DalÃ, Fundació Gala-Salvador DalÃ, Artists Rights Society, 2008.
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About Your Host (a.k.a., A True Dali Nut!)
I served as publicity director of the original Salvador Dali Museum of Beachwood, Ohio (a suburb of Cleveland) in the mid-1970s. The late A. Reynolds Morse and his now nonagenarian widow, Eleanor, amassed the world’s largest collection of Dali’s works. Many of them were exhibited in a wing of their company’s office building. I got to live with those wonderful works every day, a grown kid in a candy store! The retrospective collection is now in the Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida (www.salvadordalimuseum.org), and has been since 1982.
I’ve written widely about Dali, lectured about him, and first got lit by the Dali flame as a high school senior. My parents gifted me with the lavish book, Dali by Draeger (1968) – affectionately known as the “candy box cover” book. It remains to this day as probably my favorite of the hundreds of books published on and by the artist (even though the original binding was deplorable!). The following year, as a college freshman in an art history course, I was recruited forever when I saw a slide of Soft Construction with Boiled Beans; Premonition of Civil War of 1936.
The paintings fluid style, vivid colors, and bizarre but tantalizing imagery made for a Lothario-like seduction. I was mesmerized. And my quest to learn as much as I possibly could about this Spaniard’s life and work was off and running, in a race with no finish line ( Enjoy the journey, not the destination! ).
Now don’t get too jealous, I did enjoy the unforgettable experience of actually meeting Dali! (Oh, go ahead and be a little jealous.)
First in 1973, then again the following year, both occasions at the St. Regis Hotel in New York. Wow! Talk about being in the presence of a living legend. To this day, whenever the question comes up of whom I’d most like to have met in all of history, my answer comes quickly:I already have – Salvador Dali! It made me weak in the knees. It changed my life. Hell, it became my life.
Look for details of those meetings with the Master in future weekly editions of this column.
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“Tate Modern’s most enjoyable, intelligent, original and stunning exhibition since Matisse Picasso” The Financial Times
“For anyone who loves Dal+¡’s paintings” – The Observer
“You should see it at all costs” – The Independent on Sunday
Don’t miss Tate Modern’s spectacular summer exhibition, featuring masterpieces by one of the world’s best loved artists. The exhibition includes many of Salvador Dal+¡’s greatest paintings, including the iconic melting watches of The Persistence of Memory and the flaccid head on stilts of Sleep. It also includes his classic films L’Age d’or and Un Chien andalou, made with fellow surrealist Luis Bunuel and featuring the infamous image of an eye being cut by a razor.
The exhibition shows how his paintings and drawings influenced his films, and how film influenced the cinematic scope of his canvases. Many of Dal+¡’s most important paintings are on display, beautifully lit in Tate Modern’s exhibition space and punctuated by six mini-cinemas showing his most revered films.
This exhibition presents this great artist at his best and in a light you have never seen before.
Exhibition organised by Tate Modern in collaboration with the FUNDACI+ô GALA-SALVADOR DAL+ì.
www.salvador-Dali.org
Salvador Dal+¡, Study for the dream sequence in ‘Spellbound’ 1945. Private Collection -¬ Salvador Dal+¡. Fundaci+¦ Gala-Salvador Dal+¡, DACS, 2007
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Thrown by WB Studio head Jack Warner, it was a typical Hollywood party and all of the big stars of the 30′s and 40′s were there. However, it was also the meeting place of two guests, both artistic visionaries in their own right, whose chance encounter would culminate into a project that would eventually take 57 years to complete.
When Walt Disney met Salvador Dali in 1944, Dali was designing a sequence for Alfred Hitchcock’s film Spellbound and was known throughout the world as the most influential surrealist artist of the century. Disney had already had abstract painter and animator Oskar Fischinger work on Pinocchio and Fantasia, and was always on the alert for fine artists who could revolutionize the artistic boundaries of animation. As Disney states in 1946: “Like the Night on Bald Mountain” sequence Kay Nielson designed for Fantasia, I want to give more big artists such opportunities. We need them. We have to keep breaking new trails,” and so he does by bringing Dali onto the Disney lot to design visuals for a short entitled Destino which was originally intended for inclusion in one of Disney’s anthology features, like Make Mine Music.
Destino or “destiny,” according to Walt Disney is “a simple love story, where a boy meets a girl.” Set in a dreamlike setting, it is a poetic expression of the turmoil of love and it is as groundbreaking today as it was intended to be in the 40′s, setting forth to the animation industry the world beyond imagination, the world of the subconscious.
Dali worked night and day on Destino in 1945-1946 producing twenty-two paintings and 135 story sketches for the project, before he was asked to abandon it as the package pictures were financially unsuccessful. Disney did not think the public would embrace Destino due to the lack of support for the others and it would be an even greater financial loss.
Fifty-seven years later, Roy E Disney, Walt’s nephew, instructed producer Baker Bloodworth and director Dominique Monfery to finish Destino. With the assistance of John Hench who, along with Bob Cormack, assisted Dali on the original project, the journals of Dali’s wife Gala, and a team of 25 animators, they finish Destino, helping it fulfill it’s ‘destiny’. The completed film includes five of Dali’s original paintings and is a beautiful blend of Dali’s surrealist voice with animation featuring operatic-styled music.
Once completed, Destino premiered on June 2, 2003 at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival in Annecy, France. The film has won many awards and was nominated for a 2003 Academy Award for Animated Short Film.
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