Catalogue Raisonné of Sculpture and Three-dimensional Work by Salvador Dalí Go to the artwork index
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Morceau de savon présentant des formes automatiques Modern Style trouvé dans un lavabo

Piece of soap presenting Modern Style automatic shapes, found in a washbasin

Piece of soap presenting Modern Style automatic shapes, found in a washbasin
© Salvador Dalí, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, VEGAP, Figueres, 2019 Brassaï © Estate Brassaï-RMN-Grand Palais

Cat. no. OE 5

Morceau de savon présentant des formes automatiques Modern Style trouvé dans un lavabo

Piece of soap presenting Modern Style automatic shapes, found in a washbasin

Unique Original Work

Description

Author:
Salvador Dalí i Domènech - Gyula Halász, alias Brassaï
Date:
1932-1933
Technique:
Photograph and found object or object of automatic origin
Gelatin silver print
Dimensions:
17,5 x 23,5 cm
The dimensions correspond to the original print run of the photograph
Inscriptions:
On the back: Sculptures involontaires / Morceau de savon suscitant des / formes automatiques 'Modern' Style trouvé / dans un lavabo
Location:
Centre Pompidou - Musée national d'art moderne - Centre de création industrielle, Paris

Between 1932-1933, Dalí took on the artistic direction of a series of photographs made with Gyula Halász, alias Brassaï (1899-1984), in which certain objects, probably of automatic origin, acquire a new conceptual and artistic dimension, grounded in the essence of the photographic image. Several of these photographs were published anonymously in 1933 in the magazine Minotaure, under the heading ‘Sculptures involontaires’, each with a descriptive title drawing attention to details of the work. This title almost certainly refers once again to Dalí’s article ‘Concerning the Terrifying and Edible Beauty of Art Nouveau Architecture’, published in the same issue of Minotaure.

Observations

Dalí’s original spelling of the title has been corrected: 'Morceau de savon présentant des formes automatiques Modern'Style trouvé dans un lavabo'.

The dimensions and the inscriptions correspond to the original print run of this photograph, which is conserved at the Centre de création industrielle in Paris.  

Bibliography

  1. "Sculptures Involontaires", Minotaure, 12/1933, Paris, p. [68], ill., indirect image
  2. Brassaï, Conversations avec Picasso, Gallimard, [Paris], 1964, p. 49
  3. Brassaï, Picasso and company, Doubleday, New York, 1966, p. 36
  4. Rosalind Krauss, "The Photographic Conditions of Surrealism", October, vol. 19, Winter 1981, New York, NY, pp. [30]-31, ill., indirect image
  5. Brassaï, Les Artistes de ma vie, Denoël, Paris, 1982, pp. 29, 34
  6. Paul Éluard, Lettres à Gala: 1924-1948, Gallimard, [Paris], 1984, pp. 222, 226-227
  7. Rosalind E. Krauss, Jane Livingston, L'Amour fou : photography & surrealism, The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Abbeville, Washington, D. C., New York, London, 1985, pp. 19, 38, ill.
  8. Paul Richard, "Twist of the Lens. Funny and Provocative Surrealistic Photos at the Corcoran", The Washington Post, 14/09/1985, Washington, D.C.
  9. Paul Éluard, Cartas a Gala: 1924-1948, Tusquets, Barcelona, 1986, pp. 189, 191-192
  10. Regards sur Minotaure : la revue à tête de bête, Musée d'art et d'histoire de Genève, Genève, 1987, pp. 214, 265, ill.
  11. Briony Fer, David Batchelor, Paul Wood, Realism, rationalism, surrealism : art between the wars, Yale University Press in association with the Open University, New Haven & London, 1993, pp. 209-210, ill., indirect image
  12. Matthew Gale, Dada & surrealism, Phaidon, London, 1997, p. 294
  13. Gérard Durozoi, Histoire du mouvement surréaliste, Hazan, Paris, 1997, p. [245], ill., indirect image
  14. Surrealism: two private eyes, the Nesuhi Ertegun and Daniel Filipacchi collections, Guggenheim Museum Publications, New York, 1999, p. 723
  15. Christopher Green, Art in France : 1900- 1940, Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 2000, pp. 136-137, ill., indirect image
  16. La Révolution surréaliste, Éditions du Centre Pompidou, Paris, 2002, pp. [198], 431, ill.
  17. Rosalind E. Krauss, Jane Livingston, Dawn Ades, Explosante - fixe : photographie & surréalisme, Hazan, [S.l.], 2002, pp. 19, 38, ill.
  18. Gérard Durozoi, History of the surrealist movement, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, London, 2002, p. [242], ill., indirect image
  19. Surrealismus 1914 - 1944 : Dalí, Max Ernst, Magritte, Miró, Picasso..., K20 Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Hatje Cantz, Düsseldorf, Ostfildern-Ruit, 2002, pp. [202], [452], ill.
  20. Joan R. Kropf, Dalí objects / Dalí fetishes, Salvador Dalí Museum, Florida, 2002, pp. 11-12, ill., indirect image
  21. Dalí. Cultura de masses, Fundació La Caixa, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, Barcelona, Figueres, 2004, pp. 180-181, 278, ill. (reversed image)
  22. Dalí. Mass Culture, Fundació La Caixa, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, Barcelona, Figueres, 2004, pp. 180-181, 278, ill. (reversed image)
  23. Dalí Gaudí : La revolución del sentimiento de originalidad, Fundació Caixa Catalunya, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, Barcelona, Figueres, 2004, p. 43, ill., indirect image
  24. Dalí Gaudí : The revolution of the sentiment of originality, Fundació Caixa Catalunya, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, Barcelona, Figueres, 2004, p. 43, ill., indirect image
  25. Dalí Gaudí : La revolució del sentiment d'originalitat, Fundació Caixa Catalunya, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, Barcelona, Figueres, 2004, p. 43, ill., indirect image
  26. Dalí. Cultura de masas, Fundación La Caixa, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, Barcelona, Figueres, 2004, pp. 180-181, 278, ill. (reversed image)
  27. Mary Ann Caws, Surrealism, Phaidon, London, 2004, p. 98, ill., indirect image
  28. David Bates, Photography and surrealism: sexuality, colonialism and social dissent, I. B. Tauris, London, New York, 2004, p. 84
  29. Salvador Dalí i les arts : historiografia i crítica al segle XXI, Publicacions de la Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, 2005, pp. 93-94
  30. It's all Dalí, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, 2005, p. 290, ill. (reversed image)
  31. Surreal things : surrealism and design, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2007, p. 62, ill., indirect image
  32. Guillermo Carnero, Salvador Dalí y otros estudios sobre arte y vanguardia, Institució Alfons el Magnànim - Diputació de València, [València], 2007, pp. 41, 54, 208
  33. Cosas del surrealismo : surrealismo y diseño, Victoria and Albert Museum, Guggenheim Bilbao, London, Bilbao, 2007, p. 62, ill., indirect image
  34. Modern sculpture reader, Henry Moore Institute, Leeds, 2007, p. 96
  35. La Subversion des images : surrealisme, photographie, film, Centre Pompidou, Paris, 2009, pp. 346-347, 461, ill., indirect image
  36. Salvador Dalí. Ritratto di un genio, Abscondita, Milano, 2011, p. 119
  37. Didier Ottinger, Dictionnaire de l'objet surréaliste, Gallimard, Centre Pompidou, Paris, 2013, pp. [245], 246, [307], ill.
  38. Anna Dezeuze, Julia Kelly, Found sculpture and photography from surrealism to contemporary art, Ashgate, Farnham, UK, Burlington, VT, 2013, cover, pp. [1]-3, 5-9, [13]-18, 30, 40, 50, 61, 99-102, ill., indirect image
  39. Marc Aufraise, Salvador Dalí et la photographie: portraits du surréalisme, 1927-1942, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Paris, 2013, pp. 4, 14, 130, 145, 193-195, 204
  40. William Jeffett, Juan José Lahuerta, Picasso-Dalí, Dalí-Picasso, Museu Picasso, Salvador Dalí Museum, Barcelona, Sant Petersburg, 2014, p. 40, ill., indirect image
  41. Montse Aguer, Jean-Michel Bouhours, Laura Bartolomé, Bust de dona retrospectiu 1933/1976-1977, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, Figueres, 2015, p. 19, ill., indirect image
  42. Montse Aguer, Jean-Michel Bouhours, Laura Bartolomé, Busto de mujer retrospectivo 1933/1976-1977, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, Figueres, 2015, p. 18, ill., indirect image
  43. Montse Aguer, Jean-Michel Bouhours, Laura Bartolomé, Buste de femme rétrospectif 1933/1976-1977, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, Figueres, 2015, p. 18, ill., indirect image
  44. Montse Aguer, Jean-Michel Bouhours, Laura Bartolomé, Retrospective bust of a woman 1933/1976-1977, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, Figueres, 2015, p. 19, ill., indirect image
  45. Dawn Ades, Writings on art and anti-art, Ridinghouse, London, 2015, pp. 537-540, ill., indirect image
  46. Laura Bartolomé, "La bellesa involuntària de les escultures Dalí-Brassaï", La Vanguardia, Cultura/s, 02-08/04/2016, Barcelona, pp. 28, 30, 31, ill., indirect image
  47. Dalí : Eurêka !, Somogy éditions d'art, Musée d'Art Moderne de Céret, Paris, Céret, 2017, p. 97, ill.
  48. Dalí / Duchamp, Royal Academy of Arts, The Dalí Museum, London, St. Petersburg, FL, 2017, p. 122, ill., indirect image

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  1. 2. Laura Bartolomé, Clara Silvestre, "La belleza involuntaria de las esculturas Dalí-Brassaï", La Vanguardia, Cultura/s, 02-08/04/2016, Barcelona.

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Last update: 29/8/2019

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