Artist: Salvador Dalí
Title: Le Colosse, from the Aurélia Portfolio
Year: created: 1972
Medium: Hand-Signed Original Engraving, with Color Aquatint, on Arches Paper
Edition: Rare EA (Epreuve d'Artiste / Artist's Proof) from Limited Edition on Arches Paper
Height (inches): 31
Width (inches): 22.75
Signed by the artist
Signed Area: front
Description of piece:
This rare original engraving, Le Colosse, by Salvador Dalí is hand-signed and inscribed EA ("Epreuve d'artiste" - Artist's Proof), from the limited edition of only 175 numbered prints, with additional EA impressions, on Arches paper. Monochromatic and replete with exceptionally fine detailing, the work's singular touch of color has been applied with aquatint, a process by which color is applied using an etched copper plate.
Le Colosse (The Colossus) predominates Dalí's composition, towering over the iconic Dalí'esque landscape with its pathway disappearing into the distant horizon, and backdrop of minimalist mountains in the distance. Two figures, rendered in red, traverse the path, hands raised to the sky, and towards the Colosse figure. Dalí drew his inspiration for this engraving, and for the Aurélia portfolio, from Gérard de Nerval’s 1855 work, “Aurélia, ou le Rêve et la Vie” (1855), a written work which greatly influenced Marcel Proust, André Breton and Surrealism.
The designation "EA" is written in pencil in the lower left margin, and the artwork bears Dalí's distinctive signature, prominently, hand-signed in pencil in the lower right margin of the work.
Catalogued in Dalí expert Albert Field's authoritative Official Catalog of The Graphic Works of Salvador Dalí, Reference 72-5 B, page 72, Le Colosse is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity. In addition, on verso is the authentication of the work by renowned Dalí expert, Frank Hunter, written in pencil: "Authentic / Frank Hunter / Salvador Dalí Archives Ltd / 6 Oct. 2013"
Created on Arches paper, the paper size measures 31" in height x 22-3/4" width, with an image size measuring 22-5/8" height x 14-1/2" width. Le Colosse was published by Editions d’Art de Francony, France, and printed by Ateliers Rigal, Paris, France.
Artist bio:
Salvador Dalí, born Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, (1904-1989) was a prominent artist born in Figueres, Spain, in the foothills of the Pyrenees, sixteen miles from the French border, in Catalonia. Dalí's expansive artistic repertoire included film, sculpture, and photography, in collaboration with a range of artists in a variety of media, and he is best known for his surrealist work, including his most well-known painting, The Persistence of Memory. Highly imaginative, Dalí attributed his "love of everything that is gilded and excessive, my passion for luxury and my love of oriental clothes" to an ancestry of descent from the medieval Moors. His individualistic nature and resistance to conformity made waves, including among his colleagues. In 1934, when Dalí was subjected to a "trial", in which he was formally expelled from the Surrealist group, Dalí retorted, "le Surrealisme c'est moi": "I myself am surrealism".