Untitled (Composition with Chair and Inkstand) from 'Les Chants de Maldoror'
About this artwork
Reflecting on the origins of the paired, interlocking soft forms in this print, Dalí recalled his process of arranging pebbles collected from the beach. ‘I very much like the effect created simply by placing the pebbles with the rounded and flesh-like contours one on top of the other, while attempting to match their concavities and convexities in poses evoking the couplings of love’. While the sexual symbolism of Composition with Chair and Inkstand is evident, it is altogether more disturbing than Dalí’s description suggests. It features those motifs of disembodied limbs, penetration and implied sexual violence which are typical of the artist’s work during this period.
Published September 2022
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artist:Salvador Dalí (1904 - 1989) Spanish
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title:Untitled (Composition with Chair and Inkstand) from 'Les Chants de Maldoror'
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date created:1934
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materials:Heliogravure with drypoint on paper
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measurements:33.10 x 25.30 cm (paper size)
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object type:
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credit line:Bequeathed by Gabrielle Keiller 1995
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accession number:GMA 3954
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gallery:
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subject:
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Dalí
Dalí was born in Figueres, Spain. After being thrown out of art school in Madrid in 1923, he experimented with a range of styles. By 1927 he began to move away from Cubism towards Surrealism. He was a keen follower of developments in surrealist art and literature and met Miró, a fellow Catalan and...