Attempted Bloggery: Salvador Dali

Showing posts with label Salvador Dali. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 13, 2023

Dali Draws Harpo

Surrealist Salvador Dali made a pencil drawing of comedian Harpo Marx in February of 1937. Harpo did not get to keep the art, but he was rewarded with a signed print inscribed by the artist. The original is now in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Harpo's print, though, is available from Schubertiade Music.

Harpo Marx
Schubertiade listing accessed June 12, 2023

https://www.schubertiademusic.com/items/details/10076

Collectors who prefer to pay more can get the same item from AbeBooks with an extra commission:

Harpo Marx
AbeBooks listing accessed June 12, 2023

https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=31333167623&searchurl=kn%3DDisney%26sortby%3D1&cm_sp=snippet-_-srp2-_-image19

If you would rather pay less, get yourself a reliable time machine and go back to the Bonhams auction of November 25, 2013, where it sold for $4,000 including the premium.

https://www.bonhams.com/auction/21427/lot/17/an-inscribed-reproduction-portrait-of-harpo-marx-by-salvador-dali/

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Saturday, September 17, 2022

Cape Cod 2022: The Edward Gorey House

For insights into illustrator Edward Gorey's life and art, a visit to the Edward Gorey House in Yarmouth Port is hard to beat. It takes about an hour and a reservation, at least in the summer, is a must.

Edward Gorey House

A Whale of a Gorey Tale from the Cape and Island Whale Trail back in 2006

The Doubtful Guest in the yard

The Doubtful Guest in the kitchen

"OGDRED"
Massachusetts license plate

Among cartoonists, James Thurber is singled out as a Gorey influence.

High school art

Gorey Dracula memorabilia

Gashlycrumb Tiny treasure hunt

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Monday, June 10, 2019

Furnishing The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #666

The New Yorker's issue of June 10 & 17, 2019 is a double issue; there is apparently no longer enough news to require news weeklies to go to press every single week. As an added bonus, I have an additional week to procrastinate on the writing of my caption for The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #666. The drawing is by Carolita Johnson and it pays homage to an Italian furniture classic, the 1972 'Bocca Lip' Sofa designed by Studio 65 and inspired by the lips of Marilyn Monroe.

Carolita Johnson
The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #666

Here's an example of the sofa from 1stdibs:

Studio 65
Marilyn Bocca Lip Sofa, 1972
Sold for $4950 on 1stdibs

https://www.1stdibs.com/furniture/seating/sofas/studio-65-marilyn-bocca-lip-sofa/id-f_7456933/

Note: 1stdibs currently offers a 'Marilyn Bocca Lip' Sofa for $7,400 he r e. The sofa is still in production. Longtime readers may recall my 2012 post on this sofa here.

None of the information provided here is in the least helpful in writing a funny caption for the contest, but it might very well help with your home furnishing. Send me a picture when you redecorate.

Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives:

Carolita Johnson

Couches

Marilyn Monroe

The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest

The Moment Magazine Cartoon Caption Contest

The Cartoon Collections Caption Contest

All the Above Cartoon Caption Contests and Then Some

Attempted Bloggery's Sedentary Index

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Sunday, July 31, 2011

A Mad Tea Party

Sir John Tenniel's original illustrations for Lewis Carroll's Alice books remain familiar even today. Over the years many other fine illustrators and artists have been inspired to take on this masterpiece of children's literature. Below are a few examples of different illustrative approaches to A Mad Tea Party.

Here we have a color plate of Sir John Tenniel's famous original illustration for the Lewis Carroll classic Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865). This well-established image is clearly the one to beat. But even if an illustrator could surpass this, is it possible for any image to replace this one in the public's imagination?

Arthur Rackham, A Mad Tea Party, 1907

Arthur Rackham's book illustrations generally occupy a full page and are therefore usually more vertical compositions, or what we in the digital age call the portrait orientation. This is more beautiful than Tenniel's woodcut rendering and more ornate, but it may be a little too sedate for a truly Mad Tea Party. Alice's unease is palpable. Tenniel's Alice was downright cross.

J. MacFarlane, The Mad Tea-Party

22. Dodgson (Charles Lutwidge)], "Lewis Carroll." Macmillan's Coloured Wall Illustrations, Alice in Wonderland, wall-hanging, 6 large colour illustrations by J.MacFarlane, linen backed, original wooden wall hanger, slightly dusty, 730 x 500mm., [c.1920].

est. £200 – £300

Sold for £2000

Sale 35824, 7th July 2011

The above illustration by J. MacFarlane is little more than an appealing reworking of the Tenniel original, circa 1920. MacFarlane changes the composition from horizontal to vertical, presumably to accommodate the orientation of the wall-hanging.

Ralph Steadman, A Mad Tea Party, 1967

Ralph Steadman's skill as a draftsman is uncanny. Here his rendition from 1967 is the rudest Mad Tea Party I have found, hardly your typical children's book fare. Note the very original and appropriate use of upside-down typesetting. Steadman often brings a stunning savagery to his illustrations--this one, believe it or not, is relatively tame--and yet his compositions frequently are just brilliant. I don't think there's anything he can't draw. Like Alice, though, I think I might like to slink under the table here.

Salvador Dali, A Mad Tea Party, lithograph, 1969

Dali places his characters in the background, where Alice is the figure jumping rope. Consequently, this seems to be more of an artistic composition based on the story rather than a true illustration of Alice's adventure. Like Steadman, Dali has a tree growing through the middle of the table, here rendered as a pocket watch with a key. We've all seen Dali's bent timepieces before, but was there ever a more appropriate use than here at the Mad Tea Party with the perennially late White Rabbit in attendance?