One of the Salvador Dali illustrations that will be on exhibit at William King Museum of Art, Abingdon, Virginia.
William King Museum of Art opens its newest exhibit, “Salvador Dali: Les Chants De Maldoro,” Sept. 4. This exhibition is on view through Feb. 15.
Between 1933 and 1934, Salvador Dalí created 44 illustrations for “Les Chants de Maldoror,” a fantastical 1869 text written by Isidore Ducasse, better known by his pen name, the Comte de Lautréamont.
Lautréamont’s book had nearly vanished into obscurity when it was rediscovered in the 1920s by the French Surrealists, who championed its rebellious spirit and bizarre prose — elements Dalí complemented with an arsenal of personal visions drawn from his creative subconscious.
Celebrating the 2024 Centennial Anniversary of the founding of the Surrealist movement, and in partnership with the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts — which recently acquired the complete set of etchings that the artist made for the original 1934 edition. This exhibition presents Dalí’s astonishing Maldoror prints with researched didactic materials by Washington & Lee University students, as well as Surrealist catalogs and ephemera from the collection of Dr. Elliott King, Associate Professor of Art History at W&L.
According to Russell Facemire, curator of Fine Art & Worrell Collection of Wildlife Art, “These etchings for Dali’s book illustrations — of which exist only a few editions — represent not only an artist reacting to the intellectual fervor of the early Surrealist movement, but also a true win for the state of Virginia. Dr. Michael Taylor (VMFA) and Dr. Elliott King (Washington and Lee) have been refining the exhibition of these works in university galleries, and with their collaboration, we’re proud to say that their exhibition at the William King Museum’s display of these works will be one of the first museum exhibitions for this series of rare and groundbreaking prints. We encourage everyone to visit us and see a rarely seen side of one of the world’s most well-known and most eccentric artists.”
“Salvador Dali: Les Chants de Maldoror” is part of the William King Museum of Art’s McGlothlin Exhibition Series. This exhibition is sponsored by Johnston Memorial Hospital.
