Interview: Barbara Garčević, PR of the''Salvador Dali - Divine worlds'' exibition
'Salvador Dali - Divine worlds' exibition is opened from 3rd September at '25. maj' museum in Belgrade. In organization of Slovenian gallery Deva Puri from Bled, Belgrade audience will be presented to two of the largest opuses by Salvador Dali -105 litographies for Biblia Sacra and 101 watercolours through the illustration of the Divine Comedy. The visitors will be able to acquaint themselves to the Divine Comedy and the Bible through more than 200 graphics by this Spanish artist up until 14th November. Before Belgrade, only New York, Maribor and Bled had a taste of Dali's work in this calibre...
***
The setting of Dali's graphic work at the '25. maj' museum is complex - it is consisted of graphics and stamps, but dominated by religious theme. The exibition includes two of the largest opuses of graphics by Salvador Dali, which are more than 200 graphic papers of theDivine Comedy and Biblia Sacraand both of the cycles are of religious character. PR of the exibition, Barbara Garčević, reveals to WAVE magazine what else is offered to the visitors, why was Dali thought of as a contoverse personality, which painting technique did he use, and which surprises are installed for Belgrade audience.
- Beside graphic work, the stamps that Italian government commissioned for the 700th anniversary of Dante Alighieri's birth are also exibited. Also, the Divine Comedy was commissioned for the same occasion and this is its first illustration. Dali was thrilled to do the job since Dante was his big role-model, and used to say that Dante had a large influence on crating his own art expression.
However, this work was being done in the 50s, and it presented a large financial expense to Italy. The Communist party protested against the 'money waste', because they thought money was more needed for other purposes, and the nationalists protested because the creation of the most significant Italian poet was being illustrated by a Spaniard. The project was then withdrawn, and in the end, the Government just issued a series of souvenir stamps (the ones exibited on the Divine worlds exibition).
Nevertheless, the French understood the relevance and the worth of Dali's work and that it deserved to be printed, so a French publishing house Editions d Art Les Heures Claires financed the printing of Dali's illustrations and the exact original books of the French publisher can bee seen in '25. maj' museum - explains Barbara.
While illustrating the Divine Comedy and Biblia Sacra, Dali made sure to additionally complicate the interpretation of these literary creations, instead of simplifying it?
- Well, at one point, Dali became immensely popular, he travelled all around the world, even lived in New York, and before that exibited his work at the famous MoMA Museum. He was surrounded by the icons of that time, such were Amanda Leary, Sonny Bono, Andy Warhol. Andy Warhol once said that Dali had a huge influence on pop art.
His friend Giuseppe Alberti, wanting to reconnect Dali to the Church and God, gave him a serious task to illustrate the Bible. Alberti also thought that Dali's life partner Gala was a bad influence. However, he approached the task seriously, but in his own way, he was very spontaneous and free in his interpretation, so many think that he made the interpretation complicated. That was actually his own view and review, his own comment. It is thought that this creation would probably face critics from the Catolic church, if it had been printed in larger amounts, since the visitors who come to see the exibition, linger at the Bible illustration, and the most common comment on the Moses graphic is that Dali made him look like a devil.
Biblia Sacra was illustrated by a special technique - it's bulletism, Dali's invention?
- The technique Dali used in his Bible illustrations is called bulletism. When he got an assignment to work on the Bible, Dali invented a new way of painting using a kind of an old gun - arquebus, which he charged with paint capsules and fired off onto the surface.That is how the spontaneous spots were created, as he called them, and then created the whole composition on that base. Sometimes, it formed a beard of some Bible character, to someone it looked like a part of a head, but you can see those litle dots as a result form shooting the colour out of the gun on almost every graphic.
During his work on the Divine Comedy, he used another technique, and that was xilography. The image is not carved into the plate, but the parts of the plate which are not on the graphic were carved out of the plate. So we always emphasize that these art works, because of the technique used, occupy a special place in Dali's opus.
At first, the controversy was about the protests, since the Italian writer was represented by a Spaniard, and after that Dali's statement that he had never read the Divine Comedy, made a stir. His personality was obviously controversial?
- Obviously, Dali had a sence of how to do PR and applied it beautifly, so the statement in question was a way to make public pay attention to him. Dali's statement that he hadn't read the Divine Comedy happened when the Italian government withdrew from printing his book. That controversial statement is absolutely in accordance with his personality, which drew the atention of the public quite often. It's not surprising that Dali was inspired by this voluminous literary work, which features some religious moments, because Dante had created a philosophical piece. Of course, Dante's interpretation of religion was specific for that era, for instance, he put all the popes of that time into Hell, as well as many significant personalities, so that actually was Dante's critic of the Church, which Dali had accompanied nicely. Below every illustation, there is a part of the canto which is illustrated, so one can know in every moment what part of the book the graphic reffers to.
Once again, Belgrade is one of the first places to have the honour of hosting a cultural event like this. Before Belgrade, the exibition of Dali's artwork this size was only shown in New York, Maribor and Bled in Slovenia.
- Dali's graphics in this amount were exibited in New York few years back, and this exact setting was featured only in Maribor and Bled, because the organizer of the whole exibition is actually an art gallery from Bled, called Deva Puri. Due to incredible visit in Bled and Maribor, the organizer thought there is a potential to exibit the artwork on some other place, and Belgrade, as a centre of Southeast Europe was an obvious choice.
I reveal this information exclusively to you - in one month, this exhibition was visited by more than 10,000 visitors. This is an attendance this museum has never had before, despite the fact that the visitors have to pay for the entrance ticket, since a private gallery has rented this space and organized the whole event. The 450 dinars ticket, or the fact that this museum is far from the city centre, did not stop people from coming, and we are more than happy and overwhelmed because of the interest that succeded our expectations.
Which additional events to this Dali story are you planning to organize?
- Firstly, we plan to organize a theme party, featuring some of the currently popular musicians. We also plan to organize a humanitarian action at the end of October, actually it will be an auction of graphics, which the organizer selected. It is already known that there is a certain number of Dali's graphics with a certificate, which can be purchased at the Museum. But, Deva Puri gallery had already selected some graphics for the auction, of course those are not amongst ones which are already for sale. Finally, we are in contact with Yugoslavian kinothek which is most probably going to grant us with some motion pictures that Dali worked on with some great artists such were Hitchcock and Bunuel.
by IVANA SPASOJEVIĆ
published: http://www.wavemagazine.net/arhiva/48/culture/salvador-dali-belgrade-exhibition.htm
'Salvador Dali - Divine worlds' exibition is opened from 3rd September at '25. maj' museum in Belgrade. In organization of Slovenian gallery Deva Puri from Bled, Belgrade audience will be presented to two of the largest opuses by Salvador Dali -105 litographies for Biblia Sacra and 101 watercolours through the illustration of the Divine Comedy. The visitors will be able to acquaint themselves to the Divine Comedy and the Bible through more than 200 graphics by this Spanish artist up until 14th November. Before Belgrade, only New York, Maribor and Bled had a taste of Dali's work in this calibre...
***
The setting of Dali's graphic work at the '25. maj' museum is complex - it is consisted of graphics and stamps, but dominated by religious theme. The exibition includes two of the largest opuses of graphics by Salvador Dali, which are more than 200 graphic papers of theDivine Comedy and Biblia Sacraand both of the cycles are of religious character. PR of the exibition, Barbara Garčević, reveals to WAVE magazine what else is offered to the visitors, why was Dali thought of as a contoverse personality, which painting technique did he use, and which surprises are installed for Belgrade audience.- Beside graphic work, the stamps that Italian government commissioned for the 700th anniversary of Dante Alighieri's birth are also exibited. Also, the Divine Comedy was commissioned for the same occasion and this is its first illustration. Dali was thrilled to do the job since Dante was his big role-model, and used to say that Dante had a large influence on crating his own art expression.
However, this work was being done in the 50s, and it presented a large financial expense to Italy. The Communist party protested against the 'money waste', because they thought money was more needed for other purposes, and the nationalists protested because the creation of the most significant Italian poet was being illustrated by a Spaniard. The project was then withdrawn, and in the end, the Government just issued a series of souvenir stamps (the ones exibited on the Divine worlds exibition).
Nevertheless, the French understood the relevance and the worth of Dali's work and that it deserved to be printed, so a French publishing house Editions d Art Les Heures Claires financed the printing of Dali's illustrations and the exact original books of the French publisher can bee seen in '25. maj' museum - explains Barbara.While illustrating the Divine Comedy and Biblia Sacra, Dali made sure to additionally complicate the interpretation of these literary creations, instead of simplifying it?
- Well, at one point, Dali became immensely popular, he travelled all around the world, even lived in New York, and before that exibited his work at the famous MoMA Museum. He was surrounded by the icons of that time, such were Amanda Leary, Sonny Bono, Andy Warhol. Andy Warhol once said that Dali had a huge influence on pop art.
His friend Giuseppe Alberti, wanting to reconnect Dali to the Church and God, gave him a serious task to illustrate the Bible. Alberti also thought that Dali's life partner Gala was a bad influence. However, he approached the task seriously, but in his own way, he was very spontaneous and free in his interpretation, so many think that he made the interpretation complicated. That was actually his own view and review, his own comment. It is thought that this creation would probably face critics from the Catolic church, if it had been printed in larger amounts, since the visitors who come to see the exibition, linger at the Bible illustration, and the most common comment on the Moses graphic is that Dali made him look like a devil.
Biblia Sacra was illustrated by a special technique - it's bulletism, Dali's invention?
- The technique Dali used in his Bible illustrations is called bulletism. When he got an assignment to work on the Bible, Dali invented a new way of painting using a kind of an old gun - arquebus, which he charged with paint capsules and fired off onto the surface.That is how the spontaneous spots were created, as he called them, and then created the whole composition on that base. Sometimes, it formed a beard of some Bible character, to someone it looked like a part of a head, but you can see those litle dots as a result form shooting the colour out of the gun on almost every graphic.During his work on the Divine Comedy, he used another technique, and that was xilography. The image is not carved into the plate, but the parts of the plate which are not on the graphic were carved out of the plate. So we always emphasize that these art works, because of the technique used, occupy a special place in Dali's opus.
At first, the controversy was about the protests, since the Italian writer was represented by a Spaniard, and after that Dali's statement that he had never read the Divine Comedy, made a stir. His personality was obviously controversial?
- Obviously, Dali had a sence of how to do PR and applied it beautifly, so the statement in question was a way to make public pay attention to him. Dali's statement that he hadn't read the Divine Comedy happened when the Italian government withdrew from printing his book. That controversial statement is absolutely in accordance with his personality, which drew the atention of the public quite often. It's not surprising that Dali was inspired by this voluminous literary work, which features some religious moments, because Dante had created a philosophical piece. Of course, Dante's interpretation of religion was specific for that era, for instance, he put all the popes of that time into Hell, as well as many significant personalities, so that actually was Dante's critic of the Church, which Dali had accompanied nicely. Below every illustation, there is a part of the canto which is illustrated, so one can know in every moment what part of the book the graphic reffers to.
Once again, Belgrade is one of the first places to have the honour of hosting a cultural event like this. Before Belgrade, the exibition of Dali's artwork this size was only shown in New York, Maribor and Bled in Slovenia.- Dali's graphics in this amount were exibited in New York few years back, and this exact setting was featured only in Maribor and Bled, because the organizer of the whole exibition is actually an art gallery from Bled, called Deva Puri. Due to incredible visit in Bled and Maribor, the organizer thought there is a potential to exibit the artwork on some other place, and Belgrade, as a centre of Southeast Europe was an obvious choice.
I reveal this information exclusively to you - in one month, this exhibition was visited by more than 10,000 visitors. This is an attendance this museum has never had before, despite the fact that the visitors have to pay for the entrance ticket, since a private gallery has rented this space and organized the whole event. The 450 dinars ticket, or the fact that this museum is far from the city centre, did not stop people from coming, and we are more than happy and overwhelmed because of the interest that succeded our expectations.
Which additional events to this Dali story are you planning to organize?
- Firstly, we plan to organize a theme party, featuring some of the currently popular musicians. We also plan to organize a humanitarian action at the end of October, actually it will be an auction of graphics, which the organizer selected. It is already known that there is a certain number of Dali's graphics with a certificate, which can be purchased at the Museum. But, Deva Puri gallery had already selected some graphics for the auction, of course those are not amongst ones which are already for sale. Finally, we are in contact with Yugoslavian kinothek which is most probably going to grant us with some motion pictures that Dali worked on with some great artists such were Hitchcock and Bunuel.
by IVANA SPASOJEVIĆ
published: http://www.wavemagazine.net/arhiva/48/culture/salvador-dali-belgrade-exhibition.htm
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