"Dali in America" at the Dali Museum in St. Pete

In Bonwit Teller window

Salvador Dali was a character. You might, in fact, go so far as to say that his persona was a brand. And that persona -- along with some terrific art -- is on full view at the "Dali in America" exhibit at the Dali Museum in St. Pete. It's a fun show that showcases Dali's relationship with American arts and culture. 

I always enjoy seeing how artists worked in fields adjacent to their own. I also enjoy being one with the art. So this recreation of a window that Dali designed for Bonwit Teller was right up my alley. If you look carefully, you'll see that I'm about to answer the lobster-shaped phone on the counter. Other Dali references in the "window" include the mannequin head made of roses and his "Aphrodisiac Jacket" (out of the frame of this picture). The aphrodisiac effect apparently comes from the consumption of the contents of the 55 shot glasses with faux creme de menthe sewn onto the jacket. 

What I enjoyed even more than becoming part of this window display was learning about the fit Dali threw when Bonwit Teller had the audacity to alter the later "Day and Night" window Dali created for the store. In order not to offend passersby, an attired manequin had been substituted for Dali's skinny dipper. The nerve! The artist was so outraged that he went on a rampage in the store window, "brandishing a surrealist bathtub, made of Persian lamb, with such vigor that he smashed the plate glass and toppled onto the street." The resulting design with the bathtub half in the store and half on Fifth Avenue must have been very Dali-esque. 

"Baseball and Ballerina" (1947)

I was surprised to learn that Dali was a baseball fan. It's a terrific sport, but you have to really watch to appreciate it. The beauty is often in the small moments, and I have a hard time imagining Dali sitting still and taking it in. And of course there's the fact that he wouldn't have been the center of attention. But he claimed to be "obsessed" with the sport despite his acknowledged lack of knowledge of anything more than the basics. He apparently liked baseball's melancholic feel. (As a Rays fan, it's an emotion with which I am familiar.) 

If you happened to see the "Disney and Dali: Architects of the Imagination" exhibit a few years back, you might have seen the short film "Destino." It took 58 years to complete. Yes, you read that right. Walt was on board with the concept, but World War II broke out and the studio ended up in financial straights. It didn't seem the right time to invest in even a short film of this nature. The film was revived decades later by Walt's nephew Roy. I've veered off on this sideline because the film features a baseball player as a pinch hitter for Chronos, the god of time. I like the analogy. To see some storyboards from the film, click here. And to see "Destino" in its entirety, click here. 

Proposed artwork for 1939 World Fair 

I'll leave you with Dali's "Declaration of the Independence of the Imagination and the Rights of Man to His Own Madness" from 1939. The surrealist manifesto is of course a take on our country's own Declaration of Independence. It begins, "When in the course of human culture it becomes necessary for a people to destroy the intellectual bonds that unite them with the logical systems of the past..." and goes on from there. The funny (both "ha ha" and strange) thing is that the manifesto includes a reference to the Bonwit Teller incident involving the display window. It turns out there's a similarity.

The work was created for display as part of Dali's "Dream of Venus" pavilion at the 1939 World's Fair in New York. The work is, of course, a take on Botticeli's "Birth of Venus." But, like the naked mannequin Bonwit Teller refused to exhibit, this artwork was a bridge too far for the World Fair's Amusement Control Committee. It was fine for visitors to the Pavilion to enter through an archway comprised of a woman's opens legs and to see a nude woman reclining on a 36' bed and topless mermaids swimming in a tank symbolizing the unconscious mind. But a fish head instead a human head on the body of Venus was a bridge too far. I'm just reporting here. If you have a subscription to the NY Times, you can read more about the pavilion by clicking here for an article in the paper's "time machine." It's a fun article.

While Dali didn't withdraw from the World's Fair in protest, neither did he leave the issue alone. On the day the World Fair opened, Dali hired a plane to drop leaflets with the proposed image and his version of the Declaration of Independence across the City of New York. The Declaration states, in part, that it is ""man's right to love women with the ecstatic heads of fish." I would have loved to have seen the look on people's faces as they perused the flyers. For the entire manifesto, click here. 

"Dali in America" continues at the Dali Museum through October 18th, so there's plenty of time to see the show. If you do go, it's worth taking the time to watch the videos. We particularly enjoyed seeing Dali's appearance on "What's My Line," which you can view by clicking here. Enjoy!