Dali?!?
In yesterday's Guardian Jonathan Jones called Salvador Dali 'the greatest surrealist of them all'.
Is he serious? I thought the reputation of Dali's pretentious hand-drawn photographs had evaporated, except amongst Goths on acid and burnt-out rock musos covering the stains on the walls of their country piles.
Magritte was the man.
(I couldn't reproduce it here, but my favourite Magritte painting is this version of The Great War, from 1964.)
Is he serious? I thought the reputation of Dali's pretentious hand-drawn photographs had evaporated, except amongst Goths on acid and burnt-out rock musos covering the stains on the walls of their country piles.
Magritte was the man.
(I couldn't reproduce it here, but my favourite Magritte painting is this version of The Great War, from 1964.)
posted by maps at 3/06/2007 12:49:00 pm
15 Comments:
Dali was a reactionary.
Don't forget Bunuel.
Regards.
That's the least of his sins in my book. I just find his work relentlessly superficial, aiming always to shock some imagined bourgeois standard of decency with some outre image. There's not a lot of thought going on, not a lot of interplay between the images and the parts of the painting, not a lot of ambiguity, not a lot of point in looking for more than five seconds. With Dali more is less; with Magritte less is more.
(Maps)
Visual art is pretty passe, isn't it?
The Roving Lobster
ONCE
TWICE
TWENTY TIMES
DALI.
SURE THE ART IS SHIT BUT WHO ELSE COULD THROW THEIR FRIEND OFF A BRIDGE FOR NO REASON AT ALL ONE BRIGHT DAY IN 1911, OR COMPLAIN 'I ORDERED A LOBSTER AND A GLASS OF RED WINE - WHY DID I GET A LOBSTER AND A GLASS OF RED WINE, AND NOT A BURNING MANUSCRIPT AND A DEAD PORTUGESE MAN OF WAR ON A SILVER TRAY?'
EH?!
I disagree - Dali -if not the greatest "surealist" (great range of art hat covers) was one of the very greatest artists in history. His art is marvelous. Incredible art.
It doesn't matter what he did in his life or his politics - none of these things matter -his art was very great.
Salvador Dali was given the nickname "Avida Dollars" by the surrealists and kicked out of the surrealist movement. The reason the bourgeois press celebrate him is because he is a charlatan.
Long live Andre Breton!
It's not that Magritte is "greater" - such ideas as are themslves bourgeois - I studied Dali's art very carefully - firstly he is one of the world's greatest ever draftsman - and in a technical sense the rival of Picasso, da Vinci et al - in relation to Magritte he is simply different.
No one can say who is "the greatest (surealist whatever)in art" - but for me Dali is superb. But there are many wonderful artists.
Now whatever artist one takes and examines closely - one will find innumerable sins committed in their lives* - Turner of England was one of the greatest artists to have ever breathed.
Unfortunalety he was also rather "bourgeois" (that he became very very rich through his art is for me a good thing) - now if that doesn't fit some preconceived Marxist pattern it doesn't alter Turner's greatness.
One might say I am leaving politics out but too much politics in can also distort. So far in history there have been very few so-called "working class" geniuses. If one wants "genius"...
..and socialism etc aims to move away from ideas of "greatness" - now that is another debate. I have some sympathy with that - of course there is the problem of Bloom and his "canon".
re Magritte - yes in some ways he is more subtle - but I would just say that he is just different.
* It is thus probably a good thing we know almost nothing about Shakespear.
De Chirico. Definitely.
http://www.artlebedev.ru/everything/uniformstroy/greenhills/de-chirico-piazza.jpg
De Chirico - is quite different but a major artist also.
If you think you can leave politics out, you demonstrate a very shaky understanding of the surrealist movement. The surrealists themselves kicked Dali out for the political reason that he was only interested in money. There were other sins too: support for Franco, admiration for royalty, worship of the state and so on. Artistic technique alone is not enough to make you a surrealist.
tony lawless - I agree that politics is pervasive (but perhaps it is not omnipresent) - but if one is judging Dali's art as art - which can be done - the politics can perhaps - for a time - be kept aside...
Similar moral- -art-poetic-philsophic issues arise with the poet Ezra Pound - a very great poet - but who was a strong supporter of the Axes during the War and was very anti-semitic. This doesn't alter that he is a great poet - in fact the NY poet Zukofsky - who was Jewish - was one of his strongest supporters throughout his life.
Dali is great artist - that is my view - sometimes even political "fanatics" or enthusiasts need to attempt to be "objective".
I believe in politics - but without reading about Dali (I have done some time ago) - and I know something of the surrealist movment's history - I still see he is great artist. I know about art -my father was an artist/architect.
I know what is good art. (Or I know what I think I know is good art!)
I am not trying to disengage the politics - just that Scott Mapps tends to belabour this (necessary?) connection over much...something the Mapps of 1994 would never be seen dead doing...BTW
Miró and Ernst, that's where it's at.
my favorites paintings of Rene Magritte are, the oasis,homesickness and the dangerous liaison, I think those are the best of her.
Dalí was a versatile artist. Some of his more popular works are sculptures and other objects, and he is also noted for his contributions to theatre, fashion, and photography, among other areas.
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