Salvador Dali
by Lawrence Totaro

"Attached is a short article I researched in regards to Salvador Dali. It is
about the year 1971 but you will notice two other pieces (1937, 1940)
which obviously offer a small chess interest."

 

		1971 was a paramount of a year for Salvador Dali. He was featured in a movie narrated by Orson Welles, A Soft Self-Portrait, a museum opened in Ohio containing his works and better yet, for chess enthusiasts, he created a chess set for Marcel Duchamp. As far as chess is connected in his work, the following two pieces indicate a chess awareness early in his career.

Metamorphosis of Narcissus (1937) Notice the chessboard in the far-right background.

Two Pieces of Bread, Expressing the Sentiment of Love (1940) This beautiful still life, depicting three slices of bread, a few crumbs, and a chess pawn, is a remarkable example of the way in which Dali succeeds in adding an epic dimension to the most ordinary of everyday things. This picture was painted in Arcachon in the spring of 1940. Dali has said about the "intervention, from an anecdotal point of view," of Marcel Duchamp in this oil: "Gala and I used to play chess every afternoon, at the same time that I was in the process of painting the slices of bread. I was trying to make the surface on which the rough crumbs of bread were placed very smooth. Often there were things scattered about on the floor for instance, the pawns. One day, instead of putting them all back in the box, one of them remained placed in the middle of the model of my still life. Afterwards we had to find another chess set in order to continue our games, because I was using this one and would not allow anyone to remove it."

	< San Francisco Examiner (1971) Thirty years later, Dali set out to create a most exquisite chess set, entirely molded from fingers.
European Stars and Stripes - 1971 > "MUSEUM CONFERENCE - Salvador Dali, surrealist painter, announces in New York the opening of the Dali Museum in Beachwood, Ohio. Dali said the museum would be the first in the U.S. devoted to the works of a single living artist." (A.P. Photo)
	Exhibition in the Hermitage museum A very unique solid sterling silver chess set created by Salvador Dali, over 148 ounces of sterling silver. The pieces are cast from Dali's fingers. Dali created the set in honor of his late friend, Marcel Duchamp. F.J. Cooper was commissioned to produce a limited number of sets. This is number 12 of 45, only 13 sets exist. Each piece is signed by Dali and each set is numbered, Dali owned number 1. Both the King and Queen (the King is Dali's thumb, the Queen is Madam Dali's thumb) they both wear a tooth as a crown.
	There are 32 pieces in all 16 of the pieces are sterling with a 24 karat gold vermeil overlay. F.J. Cooper, in a moment of unrestrained curiosity, asked Dali why a tooth? Dali fielded the question brilliantly and asked Mr. Cooper why not a tooth.
	As the reason why Dali created a set using his own fingers, he said, "I had a precise and yet symbolic concept, in chess, as in other forms of human alchemy, there is always the creator, above all, the artist as the creator. It is this that I wanted represented the hand of the artist, the eternal creator. How better to express this vision than by sculpting my own fingers?" Other pieces are his index finger, pinky, the pawns are his thumbs and the tops of the castles are Salvador Dali's nipples.
	< 1971 print ad for F.J.Cooper Jewelers
	< This original vintage ad is for the Marcel Duchamp inspired chess set created by Salvador Dali (1978)
	< an original photo of Karpov and Dali sold for over $600.00 on eBay.
Update March 22. 2009 Lawrence's recent photos of the Dali Museum St. Petersburg, Florida and news of a just released biographical Dali Movie - Little Ashes ... "In 1922, Madrid is wavering on the edge of change as traditional values are challenged by the dangerous new influences of Jazz, Freud and the avant-garde. Salvador Dali arrives at the university; 18 years old and determined to become a great artist."
Dali also sighted here: (type in: al Dali - Spain - and/or el Dali - U.S.A.)