Retrospective bust of a woman

Temporary exhibition at Gala Dalí Castle in Púbol

This year's temporary exhibition in Púbol is dedicated to the sculpture of Salvador Dalí and is entitled Retrospective bust of a woman. It will be open to the public from the 24th March 2015 until 10 January 2016. This is the first time that the Dalí Foundation has organised an exhibition dedicated to sculpture.

Concept and content

The exhibition consists of the sculpture entitled Retrospective bust of a woman, a bronze copy from 1976-77 that is usually on display at the Dalí Theatre-Museum in Figueres, as well as 16 photographs by Man Ray, Brassaï, André Caillet, Carl Van Vechten and Eric Schaal, among others, three books, two magazines and an exhibition catalogue.

The sculpture is made up of a bronze bust that incorporates different elements applied using the assemblage technique: a baguette, two corncobs, feathers, a zoetrope or strip of painted paper, an inkwell featuring figures from the Angelus with two fountain pens and sand.

The exhibition Retrospective bust of a woman presents one of Salvador Dalí's first sculpture objects, created in 1933. This piece is one of the most important surrealist objects from this period, and it was highly appreciated by the surrealists as demonstrated by the fact that André Breton chose it to illustrate the corresponding chapter in his book What is Surrealism? in 1936. Dalí, once again, in his own provocative way contributed to surrealism with objects that appeal to desire, sex and disruption. Beyond its conceptual importance and iconographic analysis of the surrealist object, the aim in this case is to explore the creative process behind the piece. After an initial introduction to the general concept of a surrealist object and a symbolic object, the exhibition offers a concise description of the characteristics of Dalí's original sculpture. This presentation gives us a better understanding of Dalinian sculpture and, in particular, the way in which some pieces that were originally conceived of as single works were converted decades later, and at the express wish of the artist, into original editions of which a determined number of copies were produced.

Dalí himself defined the surrealist object in The Secret Life in the following words: "disconcerting at first glance, but by virtue of which people were no longer limited to talking about their phobias, manias, feelings and desires, but could now touch then, manipulate and operate them with their own hands".

Staging

The staging of the exhibition was designed by Pep Canaleta from 3carme33 and the graphic design is by Alex Gifreu. Inspiration was taken from the staging of exhibitions in the 1920s and 30s dedicated to surrealism and the avant-garde. For the central piece, the bust, the staging reproduces the way in which it was presented for the first time in the Pierre Colle gallery in Paris in 1933.

Information of the Exhibition

Title: Retrospective bust of a woman

Curator: the curator is Laura Bartolomé, coordinator of the Centre for Dalinian Studies, with the scientific direcction of  Montse Aguer, director of the CED.

Artworks in exhibition: 1 sculptural work, 16 fpictures, 3 monographs, 2 magazines y 1 catalog.

Catalog: Montse Aguer, Jean-Michel Bouhours, conservator in the  Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Pompidou, París, and Laura Bartolomé. Catalog published in catalan, spanish, french, english and russian.  Graphic Design by Alex Gifreu.

Dates: from 24th march 2015 until 6th January  2016.

Contact: Tel. +34 972 488 655 pubol(ELIMINAR)@fundaciodali.org