Dali Collection Catalogs.

The Albert D. Lasker Collection: Renoir to Matisse

Simon & Schuster, Inc. (1957)

At more than 14″ tall, over 11″ wide, and more than 1″ thick, this is one of the largest art books in my collection. I don’t have a book shelf big enough for it! It’s a lot of book to own for just three Dali prints.

But while the Dali reproductions are fantastic, so are the other 57 color plates by a variety of artists like Picasso, Miro, Renoir, Manet, Degas, Monet, Van Gogh, Cesanne, Matisse, and so many more.

All of the color plates are tipped in and are of superb quality.

The three Dali prints include two Dali watercolors (The Lorelei, 1948; Butterflies, 1954) and one painting (The Arrival, 1950).

As far as I know, this is the only book in my collection with prints of the two watercolors.

This book is quite rare, but sells for about $30 with dust jacket.

What is rarer than the book is the complete portfolio of prints from this collection. I have not yet found a complete set for sale.  They are sold separately from the book, so be on the lookout!

___________________________

Dalí: A Fifty Year Retrospective

By Silverstate Fine Art; published: 2001.

This is basically a catalog filled with high-quality reproductions of limited edition prints and print suites. The type of thing you would find in Field’s “Official Catalog” except that the Silverstate catalog is far better in quality.

There are a number of popular print suites reproduced here, like:

• The Divine Comedy
• Dalinean Flowers
• Aliyah
• Alice in Wonderland
• Dalinian Fruits
• Marquis de Sade
• Carmen
• Dalinian Horses
• Surrealistic Flowers

... and many more, as well as a nice reproduction of a rarely-seen lithograph “Savage Beasts in the Desert” seen here.

A catalog worthy of your collection if you can get a hold of it. Expect to pay about $30 and it’s well worth it.

___________________________

The Divine Comedy
Park West Gallery (1993)

Comes as a softcover publication.

This catalog features 100 Dali illustrations from Dante’s Divine Comedy.

Many of the reproductions are in color, but some are in black and white. The colors are rich and the images are sharp. They come in a variety of sizes: full-page, half-page, and one-ninth of a page.

At the end of the catalog is a brief description of each work.

This catalog is pretty rare, but when you do find it, expect to pay about $25. If you are looking for all of the illustrations in the Divine Comedy suite in color, check out the Everling publication or Silverstate’s Fifty Year Retrospective.

___________________________

Salvador Dalí Originals: The Dr. Edmund Klein Collection

By Paul Chimera; published: 2008.

I obtained this 29-page catalog in an online auction before it was even released for public consumption.

It contains a photo of one sculpture and reproductions of a number of sketches done by Dali for his personal physician, Dr. Edmund Klein.

Most of these sketches appear on the endpage and/or title pages of books by, or about, Dali.

Accompanying each image is text explaining it or giving unique insight into its history. As these works are all originals of Dr. Klein’s collection, they can’t be found anywhere else.

Purchase information here.

___________________________

Dali: A Study of His Art-In-Jewels
by The Owen Cheatham Foundation (1959/1970)

I resisted buying this book for a long time, partly because of cost and partly because of uncertainty of the contents. I am a big fan of Dali’s art, but was not sure how I would react to a book of his jewel art. The price of this old book made the purchase uncertain.

When I finally found a nice copy of this book for a decent price, I bought it. And I am glad I did. The hardcover copy I got came with the slipcase intact. The book has tipped-in color plates on every other page.

The photos of the jewels are done well, and the colors are vibrant. A very nice book considering its age. With this book, I also received supplements for three additional jewels not included in the original publication, bringing the total jewels in this edition to 28 + 3.

Be aware that there are several printings of this catalog (1959, 1965, and 1970).  It appears that there are printings subsequent to 1970, presumably with additional jewels.  The 1970 printing has 36 jewels bound into the edition.

You can expect to pay $40 and up for this book. If buying the hardcover, look for the slipcase, it has a nice color photo on the front.

Associated with this collection is a pamphlet of the same name.  It is about 7 pages long and contains a descriptive index of the jewels.  My copy has 28 jewels indexed and supplements for three additional jewels.  This fact dates the pamphlet to around 1962 (the 31st jewel was completed in December, 1961).

The pamphlet is relatively insignificant in that it has no illustrations and contains information already in the main book.  It is worth fewer than $10, and if you're lucky, it will be tucked into a catalog that you purchase.  Mine was.

___________________________