"Disney & Dalí: Architects of the Imagination," a companion volume to the exhibit now on view at the Walt Disney Family Museum (and destined to travel to the Salvador Dalí Museum in Florida), is notable primarily for its abundance of illustrations. It contains over 200 plates, the vast majority in full color. But one key question left unresolved in the text is this: When did Mickey's maker and the Master of Limp first come face to face?
On p. 116 in the book we are told that the two men "finally met" at a party at Jack Warner's house in early 1945. They had begun exchanging letters as early as February 19, 1945. Much, if not all, of Disney and Dalí's correspondence — very revealing in its own right — is reproduced in the book.
However ... In February or March 1937, Dalí sent a postcard from California (quoted on p. 43 in the book) to his fellow Surrealist André Breton, back in Paris, in which Dalí announced, in French: “I’m in Hollywood where I’ve made contact with the three American surrealists, Harpo Marx, Disney, and Cecil B. DeMille. I believe I’ve intoxicated them suitably and hope that the possibilities for surrealism here will become a reality.”
Dalí's language on this card — in both the original French, and in translation — is sufficiently ambiguous to leave us in doubt as to whether he'd come in actual direct "contact" with Walt in 1937. It's possible, for instance, that Dalí, with his inimitable extravagance and flair for self-promotion, was simply trying to "intoxicate" his friend Breton by citing the names of three great Tinseltown luminaries.
Anyone out there have any thoughts or additional information?
p.s.: Oddly enough, it's also not clear who wrote the text for this volume. Ted Nicolaou, the curator for the show, seems to have written most, if not all of it — but perhaps with help from someone at Disney Editions or an arm of the Disney Company.
"Disney & Dalí: Architects of the Imagination," a companion volume to the exhibit now on view at the Walt Disney Family Museum (and destined to travel to the Salvador Dalí Museum in Florida), is notable primarily for its abundance of illustrations. It contains over 200 plates, the vast majority in full color. But one key question left unresolved in the text is this: When did Mickey's maker and the Master of Limp first come face to face?
ReplyDeleteOn p. 116 in the book we are told that the two men "finally met" at a party at Jack Warner's house in early 1945. They had begun exchanging letters as early as February 19, 1945. Much, if not all, of Disney and Dalí's correspondence — very revealing in its own right — is reproduced in the book.
However ... In February or March 1937, Dalí sent a postcard from California (quoted on p. 43 in the book) to his fellow Surrealist André Breton, back in Paris, in which Dalí announced, in French: “I’m in Hollywood where I’ve made contact with the three American surrealists, Harpo Marx, Disney, and Cecil B. DeMille. I believe I’ve intoxicated them suitably and hope that the possibilities for surrealism here will become a reality.”
Dalí's language on this card — in both the original French, and in translation — is sufficiently ambiguous to leave us in doubt as to whether he'd come in actual direct "contact" with Walt in 1937. It's possible, for instance, that Dalí, with his inimitable extravagance and flair for self-promotion, was simply trying to "intoxicate" his friend Breton by citing the names of three great Tinseltown luminaries.
Anyone out there have any thoughts or additional information?
p.s.: Oddly enough, it's also not clear who wrote the text for this volume. Ted Nicolaou, the curator for the show, seems to have written most, if not all of it — but perhaps with help from someone at Disney Editions or an arm of the Disney Company.