Salvador Dalí's Art and Writing, 1927–1942
The Metamorphosis of Narcissus

A study of the interaction between Dalí's art and writing, first published in 1996.

Haim Finkelstein (Author)

9780521639255, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 28 February 1998

354 pages, 83 b/w illus.
25.6 x 20.6 x 2.1 cm, 0.7 kg

' … this exuberant, well-focused study charts the metamorphosis of an unsure, neurotic Catalan painter into a dynamic, neurotic internationally famous (ex)-Surrealist.' Art Newspaper

This book examines the evolution of Dalí's art during the 1920s and 1930s when he was associated first with the Catalan avant-garde and then with the Surrealist group in Paris. During this period, Dalí's painting style changed radically, a phenomenon which has never been fully accounted for in the extensive literature on this subject. Haim Finkelstein demonstrates that Dalí's writing, in which he explicated theoretical systems such as Paranoia-Criticism and other ideas adopted from Freud, were important for the active and critical role that they played in his development as an artist and often controversial figure. His 1996 study examines these writings in detail as the foundation for the evolution of Dalí's unique artistic vision.

Part I. Under the Sign of Saint Sebastian: 1. Lorcaean aesthetics, Cubism, and metaphysical painting stylistic developments until 1926
2. Saint Sebastià and the proto-surrealist paintings of 1927
3. Words and images - freedom and the perception of limits
4. Fear and desire - the initial phase of Dalí's Aesthetics of Repugnance
Part II. Under the Sign of the Great Masturbator: 5. From anti-art to surrealism
6. Dalí, Buñuel and Un Chien andalou
7. From Un Chien andalou to The Great Masturbator
8. Le Grand Masturbateur and the paintings of 1929–30
Part III. Under the Sign of William Tell: 9. Revolt, defiance, and scatological provocation
10. The omnipotence of love - Gala vs. William Tell
11. The morphological aesthetics of the soft and hard and the search for form
12. From symbolic functioning to 'Beings-Objects' - Dalí and the surrealist object
Part IV. Under the Sign of the Angelus: 13. Paranoia-criticism - concept and theory
14. From paranoiac intuition to conceptualization - double and multiple images
15. Paranoiac mechanisms in The Tragic Myth of Millet's Angelus and in Dalí's shorter writings
Part V. Under the Sign of Narcissus: 16. The metamorphosis of Narcissus and the dialectics of fragmentation and wholeness
17. To become Classic - rejection of earlier surrealist attitudes and the abandonment of Freudian theory
18. I Renounce Nothing: I Continue - observations on Dali's art and writing in the 1940s and after
Notes
Select bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: History of art & design styles: from c 1900 - [ACX]