Oscar Dominguez was born in Tenerife, Spain, settled in Paris in 1934 and joined the Surrealists soon after. He contributed to the Surrealist arsenal of automatic techniques by exploiting the idea of decalcomania. By applying gouache to a sheet of paper, pressing a second sheet against it and then removing it, he could produce a variety of accidental effects. The idea was taken up by many of the Surrealist artists, and it appealed to poets as well, for it took little artistic training or skill to produce interesting images. Dominguez also created a number of noteworthy Surrealist objects. The verism of Dalí was a strong influence on his easel painting. As in the lot offered here, he usually took everyday objects and transplanted them into the Surrealist landscape. After 1940 his painting style grew more heavily indebted to Picasso.