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Lot Essay
Sold with photo-certificate from Robert P. Descharnes dated, Paris, vendredi 8 décembre 2000.
Buste rétrospectif de femme is based on the porcelain version, of a 1933 sculpture that Dalí made and which incorporated a number of themes similar to those being explored in his paintings. In 1932, Dalí had exhibited a painting which depicted several inkstands placed on a loaf of bread. Dalí claimed to have 'invented' the use of bread as an aesthetic and useless object as opposed to its more practical use as the 'succor and sustenance of large families' (S. Dalí in R. Descharnes, op.cit, p. 186). Dalí's similar use of the bread in Buste rétrospectif de femme is highly characteristic for it was the Surrealists belief that everyday objects placed in an alien context would stimulate a metaphysical understanding of them and reveal the ordinary in a radical new way. For Dali the Surrealist object was nevertheless impractical: "it serves for nothing but to make men move", he insisted "to exhaust them, to cretinize them". "The surrealist object is made uniquely for honor, it does not exist except for the honor à l'object" (S. Dalí, Les Cahiers d'art, 1936). When the first version of Buste rétrospectif de femme was exhibited in Paris in 1933 the work caused a sensation, not merely for its striking appearence but also because the real loaf of bread which Dalí had used was reputedly stolen and eaten by Pablo Picasso's dog.
Buste rétrospectif de femme is based on the porcelain version, of a 1933 sculpture that Dalí made and which incorporated a number of themes similar to those being explored in his paintings. In 1932, Dalí had exhibited a painting which depicted several inkstands placed on a loaf of bread. Dalí claimed to have 'invented' the use of bread as an aesthetic and useless object as opposed to its more practical use as the 'succor and sustenance of large families' (S. Dalí in R. Descharnes, op.cit, p. 186). Dalí's similar use of the bread in Buste rétrospectif de femme is highly characteristic for it was the Surrealists belief that everyday objects placed in an alien context would stimulate a metaphysical understanding of them and reveal the ordinary in a radical new way. For Dali the Surrealist object was nevertheless impractical: "it serves for nothing but to make men move", he insisted "to exhaust them, to cretinize them". "The surrealist object is made uniquely for honor, it does not exist except for the honor à l'object" (S. Dalí, Les Cahiers d'art, 1936). When the first version of Buste rétrospectif de femme was exhibited in Paris in 1933 the work caused a sensation, not merely for its striking appearence but also because the real loaf of bread which Dalí had used was reputedly stolen and eaten by Pablo Picasso's dog.