Eric Schaal

LOT ID: 75849

Dream of Venus, 1939

Silver Print, Gelatin silver print

9.25 х 8 in. (23.5 x 20.32 cm.)

Stamped, "Photo Eric Shaal", "Private Copy", and "Pix Publishing Inc" stamped verso. "Dali's Dream of Venus World's Fair NY 1939" inscribed verso.

Print/Casting Year ie. circa 1939

Lot description

A vintage print of Salvador Dali’s surrealist pavilion called Dream of Venus, a work which attracted the most attention at the 1939 New York World’s Fair. The pavilion was the idea of architect / artist Ian Woodner, who pitched it to Julian Levy, a major proponent of the surrealist movement and it was Levy who decided to bring Dali aboard. Dali’s finished structure was a spectacular façade full of protrusions which formed the entranceway, and between its irregular openings visitors could see a reproduction of Leonardo da Vinci’s Saint John the Baptist and Botticelli's Birth of Venus. Inside the building, a Venus reclined on an enormous bed adorned with flowers and red satin. Between the artist's original idea and the project's end result, however, significant alterations were made which led Dalí to complain about the organizer's impositions in a pamphlet he entitled Declaration of the Independence of the Imagination and the Rights of Man to his own Madness.

In 2003, the Queens Museum mounted an exhibition of Eric Schaal’s photographs documenting the construction of Dali’s installation, augmented by a selection of additional photographs and other documents. The Queens Museum exhibition beautifully captured the public impact of Dalí’s Surrealist activity in America, and gives us a marker from which we can measure present and future parameters of the freedom artists are willing to explore.

Literature and Catalogue Raisonné
Literature and Catalogue Raisonné
Publication:

Salvador Dali's Dream of Venus: The Surrealist Funhouse from the 1939 World's Fair, Ingrid Schaffner, Princeton Architectural Press, 2002, page 41
Condition Report
Condition Report
No condition report has been added for this lot. Please contact the specialist for further information.
History and Provenance
History and Provenance
Shipping Information
Shipping Information
Shipping Carrier:
FedEx, USPS, Pick-up

Shipping Weight: 3 lbs

Framing: No

Item Location: New York, USA

Shipping Options:
Shipping weight is approximate, buyer pays shipping, handling, and insurance and all applicable taxes and duties. Work will be shipped upon receipt of payment in full.
Payment and Return Policies
Payment and Return Policies
Accepted:
Wire Transfer, Check

Seller's Return Policy:
tbd

artnet Assurance Policy:
Every artnet Auctions seller has been approved by artnet after a thorough review. All of our sellers are required to accept the following artnet policy: A buyer may return an item purchased through artnet Online Auctions, if the item received is not as described in its listing, or is found to be not authentic.
Please see our full Return Policy for details.

Purchase Now

You are purchasing this lot for US$.*

Click Continue to place your order.

*The purchase now price excludes taxes (if applicable) and a 20% buyer's premium on all lots under US$250,000 and a 10% buyer's premium on all lots with a winning bid or purchase now price of US$250,000 or above.

Purchase Now

Congratulations, you have purchased a lot on artnet Auctions!

Proceed to Items Won >

SmartBid

CONFIRMATION

The artnet SmartBid Service will automatically bid on your behalf up to US$.

artnet SmartBid will immediately meet the reserve price if your maximum bid is over the reserve. If the lot does not have a reserve price, it will immediately bid to the next increment level.

artnet SmartBid will then raise your bid up to your maximum bid by increment. But it will never raise your bid above the reserve price unless other bidders placed competitive bids on the lot.

Click Bid Now to place your bid.

SmartBid

Enter your maximum bid below. It must be US$ or higher:

Maximum bid: US$

*The maximum bid excludes taxes (if applicable) and a 20% buyer's premium on all lots with a winning bid under US$250,000 and a 10% buyer's premium on all lots with a winning bid or purchase now price of US$250,000 or above.

How does bidding work?