The investigation of the sculptural work by Salvador Dalí is beginning to give its first results after a lengthy period of study and reflection. Since the end of 2011 the Centre for Dalinian Studies has concentrated on examining the complexity of Dalí’s process of creating sculpture and on seeking points of consensus on some of the more controversial aspects, from the specifics of the conception and execution of the works and the problems posed by some of the contracts signed by the artist to the posthumous editions that continue to be produced today.
The main objectives of this presentation are: to provide a first approach to the characteristics of the artist’s sculptural work, set out the criteria for its cataloguing and establish the grounds for the authentication of works that will comprise the Catalogue Raisonné of Sculpture and Three-Dimensional Work by Salvador Dalí.
Chronology of the sculptural work of Salvador Dalí
The first sculptural works by Salvador Dalí date from the late 1920s, a period when he made a number of objects and ceramic pieces. However, the first real phase of his sculpture-making began shortly after his move to Paris in the early 1930s. During these years, up until 1939, Dalí concentrated on producing a considerable number of Surrealist objects and other sculptures. Most of these are unique pieces, and some were also ephemeral, and in these cases the pieces are only known from photographs or descriptions.
From the 1940s until the end of the 1960s, approximately, Dalí created sculptures and objects for a number of specific projects. Also in this period, from 1941 to 1958, we find his most significant output in jewellery and smithing. It is also worth noting various sculptures, objects and installations he produced during this period for the Portlligat house, above all after his return from the United States in 1948.
During the 1960s and especially during the 1970s Dalí made numerous editions of sculpture. On the one hand, he authorized original editions in bronze of some of his Surrealist sculptures and objects of the 1930s. It is very likely that one of the reasons for these editions was to ensure there were works to be shown in the many retrospective exhibitions that were held during these years. On the other hand, at the same time Dalí signed several contracts for the production of new sculptures, for the most part in multiple editions. In these cases, Dalí himself made the original model – in a malleable material, usually wax – that was to be run off for the edition, and was personally involved in overseeing the production process.
Another important moment in Dalí’s sculptural output can be identified with the process of conceiving and realizing the Dalí Theatre-Museum in Figueres, for which Dalí created a number of important works, including sculptures, installations and manipulated objects, especially from the beginning of the 1970s until the opening of the Dalí Theatre-Museum in September 1974.
Precedents for the study of the sculptural work of Salvador Dalí
There is no doubt that in the field of contemporary sculpture, each artist requires specific individual study, and this is certainly the case with Dalí. Indeed, the difficulties involved in arriving at a unanimous appreciation of the process of production of his sculpture, and particularly in relation to the authenticity of some editions, have raised many questions.
The research conducted by the Centre for Dalinian Studies has focused on identifying the characteristics of the sculptures and three-dimensional works that were produced in editions, with a certain number of copies being made. In fact, one of the major challenges for Salvador Dalí’s sculpture today is the proliferation of multiple and even posthumous editions.
In recent years there has been an increase in the posthumous production of sculptures by Salvador Dalí as a consequence of contracts signed by the artist himself before his death and of the transfer or sale of reproduction rights to third parties. Two articles published in ARTnews magazine [1] have drawn attention to this fact, and especially the current state of the trade in Dalí sculpture and the difficulties involved in presenting this work to the public. Although in some cases certain editions do indeed have a legitimate framework or contract, their presentation to the viewer, both in the commercial and in the institutional cultural circuits, needs to provide the necessary guarantees to facilitate a better understanding of the works.
With regard to this confusion, many works are currently offered or exhibited in a ‘fraudulent’ manner, in the sense that they are presented as original works by Salvador Dalí when this is not the case either legally or artistically. In seeking to address this state of affairs, the Centre for Dalinian Studies of the Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí has assumed the task of laying the bases for ensuring a reasoned study of the artist’s sculptures, and of establishing specific criteria for their proper identification. In this we have centred our efforts on determining the parameters to allow the identification of a given piece as an original, a multiple work, or merely a reproduction.
As a result, we can now put forward the first guidelines for the authentication of original sculptures by Salvador Dalí. It should be borne in mind, however, that this is still a work in progress, liable to be expanded and/or revised in the light of new information and the findings of our ongoing study.
[1] Thane Peterson, “The Dalí Sculpture Mess”, ARTnews,12/01/2008. Publ.: http://www.artnews.com/2008/12/01/the-dali%C2%AD-sculpture-mess [Consulted: 20/10/2011]; Thane Peterson, “The Dalí Sculpture Mess”, ARTnews, 12/03/2012. Publ.: http://www.artnews.com/2012/12/03/the-dali-sculpture-mess [Consulted: 17/12/2012]. The latter article received the Society of the Silurians Excellence in Journalism Arts/Culture Award 2013.
Artistic criteria of the Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí in relation to sculpture and three-dimensional work. Classification proposal
The study of Salvador Dalí’s sculptural work led to the publication, in 2014, of a first document entitled “Artistic Criteria of the Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation in the Matter of Sculpture and Three-Dimensional Work”. Since then, the continued study of the works by the Centre for Dalinian Studies and the research of some specific collections have allowed the particularities that define and distinguish the artist’s sculptural production to be increased – and in a way completed.
Download the document.
Authentication of sculpture and three-dimensional work
The Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí will set up a specialist committee that will assume responsibility for assessing, cataloguing and passing judgment on any sculpture and three-dimensional object that may be claimed to be the work of Salvador Dalí.
In order to authenticate the work and provide it with an expertization certificate, its authorship must first be certified. This process will entail the following steps, depending on the characteristics of the work.
- Identify and authenticate Dalí’s authorship of the work, if possible by means of the certificate of authenticity issued for the work by the artist himself
- Establish the provenance of the work
- Certify Dalí’s connection with the work in the form of documentation (contracts, bon à tirer, correspondence, photographs, bibliography, etc)
Once Dalí’s authorship has been determined, the next step is to assess and catalogue the work according to the criteria set out above in the section entitled Artistic criteria of the Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí in relation to sculpture. Every work that meets all of the conditions applying to each section will be issued with an expertization certificate endorsing its condition and characteristics as one of the following:
- Unique Original Work by Salvador Dalí
- Original Work by Salvador Dalí
- Posthumous Original Work by Salvador Dalí
- Multiple Work by Salvador Dalí
Expertization certificates will only be issued for original works by Salvador Dalí and for multiple works made prior to 23 January 1989. This being so, no piece made under a reproduction licence will be eligible for this type of accreditation, on the grounds that this is not an artwork as such but a mere reproduction, as established in the section entitled Artwork authentication.
Bases for the Catalogue Raisonné of Sculpture and Three-dimensional Work by Salvador Dalí
Having carried out this first phase of preliminary study, the Centre for Dalinian Studies is preparing the bases for the identification and classification of the original sculptures by Salvador Dalí to be included in the forthcoming Catalogue Raisonné of Sculpture and Three-dimensional Work by Salvador Dalí. To date, this catalogue raisonné does not include any multiple works, and in no case will it include authorized reproductions of works authorized by license.
Given the diversity and richness of the materials and techniques that Dalí used in the process of creating sculpture, this catalogue raisonné will include not only works of sculpture in the traditional sense of the term but also any kind of three-dimensional object. Thus the following will be assessed and classified, where appropriate, in this catalogue: sculptures in general, reliefs, smithing, assemblages, objects, Surrealist objects, manipulated objects, installations, furniture, glass, ceramics, architectural sculpture and other works that comply with the general parameters of a sculpture or three-dimensional work.
However, it will be the actual process of work and study that will give us the information to mark out more specific guidelines, which will be fully defined and established by the time of publication of this catalogue.
Like the Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings, this will be an online edition, thus allowing us to establish an ongoing work process and a permanent system of revision and validation of the data made available by the team of specialists at the Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, and also by way of relevant new information as this comes to light.
Again following the practice adopted for the Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings, a chronological sequence of periods has been established for the study of the works and publication of the catalogue, which will therefore be presented in chronological order in successive sections. The first of these, which is being studied at present and is scheduled for publication in 2017, covers the first sculptures and objects of the Surrealist period, up until 1940.
Glossary
This glossary of terminology draws on the criteria and referents of following dictionaries, glossaries and thesauri: Glossary of Art Terms of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.*
Architectural sculpture
Type of sculpture that is characterized by being physically and conceptually linked to the process of constructing an architectural work, of which it is a decorative element.
Artist’s casts or proofs (EAs or APs)
These are the casts forming part of an edition that are set aside for the artist. Each cast must be duly identified by a number distinguishing it within the total number of casts or artist’s proofs in the edition. Unlike commercial copies, artist’s proofs are usually identified with the initials EA or AP and/or numbered in Roman numerals.
Assemblage
Type of three-dimensional work made from materials and other objects usually considered to be non-artistic.
Bon à tirer
Document in which the author of a work approves a first proof -in the case of sculpture- by the foundry. The existence of such a document permits more concise certification of the close involvement of the artist in the edition of a work.
Casts
Each of the works that make up a limited edition. Each cast must be duly identified by a number distinguishing it within the total number of casts in the edition. In this case, the numbering will be in Arabic numerals, for example 1/8, which indicates the first cast of a limited edition of eight.
Certificate of authenticity
A document certifying the authenticity of an artwork, signed and issued by the artist. In the case of editions of sculpture there will be a separate document for each piece, and this will include details of the total number of casts in the edition and the edition number of the cast in question. Clearly, such certificates are of crucial importance in authenticating an artwork.
Edition contract
Contract by which the author grants the publisher the right to reproduce and distribute his or her work. This document includes details of the work and the edition (number of casts, materials, dimensions, etc).
Edition process
The edition process of a work is a process by which a usually limited number of copies of a particular work are produced. In sculpture, in addition to the artist, other important agents may intervene, such as the editor and the foundry. Jean Chatelain defined such processes, in which technicians and artisans are involved, as ‘compound arts‘ [1].
[1] Jean Chatelain, “An Original in Sculpture”. In Albert Ensen (ed.), Rodin Rediscovered, National Gallery of Art, New York Graphic Society, Washington, Boston, 1981, p. 276.
Expertization certificate
A document certifying the authenticity of the work, issued by a specialized committee of an institution with recognized competence in questions of the artist’s work, expressing an opinion as to the authenticity of the work.
Foundry
A factory dedicated to the casting of pieces by the process of metal casting.
Foundry mark
This is one of the marks usually found on a copy forming part of an edition, and identifies the foundry that carried out the casting.
Furniture
Type of three-dimensional work created to facilitate and meet the everyday needs of people, usually found in living spaces.
Glass
Type of three-dimensional work produced through the working of glass.
Hors commerce
A term applied to works forming part of an edition that have been set aside by the artist or reserved for some other commitment, and in principle are not offered for sale through commercial channels.
Installation
Type of three-dimensional work developed from the 1960s on which involves intervention in the space in the form of an artwork and/or other three-dimensional object.
Limited edition
Limited set of casts of a work produced by a mechanical process of reproduction. A limited edition includes a certain number of casts. This number is determined prior to production and additional casts may not be produced afterwards.
Manipulated object
Type of three-dimensional work characteristic of Salvador Dalí’s output, defined by the artist’s intervention in a three-dimensional object or sculpture originally made by another person. The intervention can manifest itself in different techniques, usually painting or assemblage with other objects.
Model
The original artwork produced by the artist in a malleable material, often clay or wax, used to make the mould from which edition of the work will be cast.
Mould
A hollow single piece or set of articulated pieces obtained from the model of the work made by the artist. The interior of the mould faithfully reproduces the form and details of the final work. The mould is filled with a liquid or other material, which, once solidified, results in the final work.
Numbering
In the edition of a sculpture each cast must be identified with a mark on the surface giving the number of the item within the series of casts that make up the edition.
Posthumous sculpture
A sculpture made after the artist’s death from an original model made by the artist in person, and as such a sculpture obtained in the normal way by a process of mechanical reproduction, from which to evaluate its condition as an original edition, with the proviso that this is limited to 12 casts (8+4 EA).
Producer of the edition
A person or entity that produces an edition of an artwork in conjunction with the artist, taking charge of the production process and subsequent distribution.
Relief
Type of sculpture defined by the execution of a sculptural form on a flat surface and classified as high relief or low relief, depending on the degree of projection of the form.
Reproduction rights
Copyright or rights to mount, reproduce or communicate a work of art.These rights to produce copies of an artwork pertain to the author of the work, unless he or she has transferred or delegated them to a third party. On the death of the author, these rights pass to his or her successors, unless the author has stipulated otherwise.
Resale right
The right of the artist to receive a royalty payment on the subsequent resale of an artwork after its first sale, fixed as a percentage of the purchase price of the successive sale of the work. This percentage is paid to the artist in person, or by his or her successors or heirs after the artist’s death.
Smithing
Type of three-dimensional work made with semiprecious or precious materials. Includes jewellery and ornaments, and other objects related to votive purposes.
Successors
The successors are the physical persons or legal entities in legal possession of certain rights related to the management and/or reproduction of the works of a dead artist.
Surmoulage
The French loan-word surmoulage is used for an edition made from a cast taken from a finished artwork such as a bronze rather than from the artist’s original model or mould. A piece obtained using this procedure is not an original work but a reproduction.
Surrealist object
Type of three-dimensional work developed by the members of the Surrealist movement, foremost among them Salvador Dalí. It is characterized by the integration and assemblage of various non-artistic objects and materials in a creation endowed with a specific symbolic or conceptual meaning. According to some writers, the origin of these Surrealist objects is to be found in the ready-mades Marcel Duchamp produced from 1914 [2].
[2] André Breton, Paul Éluard, Dictionnaire abrégé du Surréalisme, José Corti, Paris, 1991, p. 18.