Crânes mous et harpe crânienne (Soft skulls and ‘Cranian’ Harp)

The print, an etching and engraving printed on vellum paper, features a handwritten dedication by Dalí in the lower left corner: ‘Pour Edward son ami Salvador Dalí 1935’ (For Edward [James] his friend Salvador Dalí). There are very few extant proofs of this work, which was never intended as a limited edition and was printed at Roger Lacourière’s workshop in Paris. The eccentric British philanthropist and poet Edward Frank Willis James (1907–1984), a collector of Surrealist art, met Dalí in 1935 [see OG 026] and became one of his principal patrons.