- Cat. no. OE
- 34
Buste de femme rétrospectif dévoré par les fourmis et les cuillères
Retrospective Bust of a Woman Devoured by Ants and Spoons
Retrospective Bust of a Woman Devoured by Ants
-
Unique Original Work with Versions
1933
-
Unique Original Version
1934
-
Unique Original Version
1937
-
Unique Original Version
1938
-
Unique Original Version
1939
Cat. no. OE 34
Retrospective Bust of a Woman Devoured by Ants and Spoons
1939
Description
- Date:
- 1939
- Technique:
- Assemblage
- Dimensions:
- Unknown
- Location:
- Lost / Ephemeral work
- Description:
- The latest version of the Retrospective Bust of a Woman documented to date, this work has been identified thanks to a photograph by Eric Schaal conserved in the archives of the Centre for Dalinian Studies. This is one of the versions in which the ongoing transformation of the original work, from 1933, is most clearly apparent. Dalí placed the head of the bust inside the jaws of a shark, perhaps the same jaws he had previously placed on the mannequin driver of the Rainy Taxi in the 1938 Exposition Internationale du Surrealisme. The zootrope of a succession of men with umbrellas is very different from the one in the version presented at the London Gallery in 1937. The artist completed this new ephemeral creation by affixing spoons, a snail and a broken eggshell to the shoulders and breasts. These elements also relate to the iconography of the mannequin in his Passage des Panoramas installation, on the occasion of the exhibition in 1938 mentioned above.
- The title of this work comes from a manuscript in which Dalí refers to the works selected for the exhibition Salvador Dalí 1939 at the Julien Levy Galleries in New York. The artist refers to the work on two occasions, with a slight variation in the title, as "Buste de femme rétrospectif dévoré par le fourmi et les cuillères" and "Buste de femme rétrospectif dévoré par les fourmis". The first of these has been selected as the original title, and the singular "le fourmi" has been amended to the plural "les fourmis".
- 1939, New York, Julien Levy Gallery, Salvador Dali 1939, 21-3-1939 - 18-4-1939, not included in catalogue
- Robert M. Coates, "The art galleries", The New Yorker, vol. XV, no. 7, 01-07/04/1939, New York, NY, p. 56
- Montse Aguer i Teixidor, Marc Aufraise, Dalí versus Schaal, Distribucions d'Art Surrealista (DAS), [Figueres], 2006, p. [54], ill.
- Salvador Dalí - Surrealisti! = Salvador Dalí - Surrealist!, Espoo Museum of Modern Art, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, Espoo, Figueres, 2007, p. 231, ill.
- Montse Aguer, Jean-Michel Bouhours, Laura Bartolomé, Bust de dona retrospectiu 1933/1976-1977, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, Figueres, 2015, pp. 45, 64, ill.
- Montse Aguer, Jean-Michel Bouhours, Laura Bartolomé, Busto de mujer retrospectivo 1933/1976-1977, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, Figueres, 2015, pp. 45, 64, ill.
- Montse Aguer, Jean-Michel Bouhours, Laura Bartolomé, Retrospective bust of a woman 1933/1976-1977, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, Figueres, 2015, pp. 45, 64, ill.
- Montse Aguer, Jean-Michel Bouhours, Laura Bartolomé, Buste de femme rétrospectif 1933/1976-1977, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, Figueres, 2015, pp. 45, 64, ill.
The copyright on Salvador Dalí's works, included those that are reproduced in this Web page, is held by the Spanish State and has been granted in exclusivity to the Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí.
Pursuant to intellectual property laws in force, the total or partial reproduction, distribution, transformation, public communication, interactively making available to the public, as well as any other exploitation, by any means, of the works included in this Web page is prohibited.
Any exploitation of Salvador Dalí's works is subject to the prior application and clearance of the relevant licence issued by VEGAP (tel. 91 532 66 32 and 93 201 03 31 ; www.vegap.es). Copyright infringement will be prosecuted according to Laws.