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Butterfly Ballet

Artist Salvador Dalí (Spanish, 1904-1989)

CultureSpanish

Date1956

MediumBallet maquettes in watercolor and printed collage

Dimensions10 3/4 × 24 in. (27.3 × 61 cm)
Overall, Frame: 20 1/4 × 33 1/2 in. (51.4 × 85.1 cm)

SignedSigned, lower edge center: "Dali / 1956"

Credit LineAnonymous gift

Object number2015.34

Not on view

DescriptionThis work on paper is a watercolor and collage maquette of ballet costume designs signed by Salvador Dalì in 1956. Dalì may have prepared this for a ballet created by Maurice Sandoz with whom he frequently collaborated. Cutouts of printed butterfly forms are applied to two painted figures. A third figure with a shell design costume stands on the center right. A fourth seated figure on the right side of the sheet appears to observe the other three standing figures. Backstamps and labels on the cardboard backing indicate that the work was once owned by the Hammer Galleries and was exhibited at the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery.
ProvenanceCollection of the Societe des Arts et Luxe. Purchased by private owner from M. Knoedler and Co., New York, NY. Purchased by private collector from Auslew Gallery, Norfolk, VA, at an undetermined date (presumably 1971 or later). By descent to anonymous donor. Gift to Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, December 2015.Exhibition HistoryMunicipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, November 19 - December 20, 1964 (no. 26). "Dali," Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam, the Netherlands, November 21, 1970-January 10, 1971 (no. 141). "Dali," Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Baden-Baden, Germany, January 29 - April 18, 1971 (no. 121). "Surrealisme," Galerie des Beaux-Arts, Bordeaux, France, May 2 - September 1, 1971 (no. 52).Published References"Dali" (Museum Boymans-van Beuningen: Rotterdam, the Netherlands, 1970). "Dali" (Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden: Baden-Baden, Germany, 1971) 256-257. "Surrealisme" (Galerie des Beaux-Arts: Bordeaux, France, 1971) 46-47.