Divine Comedy - Inferno 31

Dali, Salvador

250986 Dali, Salvador Divine Comedy - Inferno 31 Les Geants (The Giants) 1960 M.L. 1069 9 3/4'' x 7'' Color wood engraving on Rives wove paper after a watercolor. One of 100 illustrations from Dante's "Divine Comedy," published by Les Heures Claires, Paris. Hand-signed in pencil lower right margin and signed in the block lower center. The "Divine Comedy" suite consists of 100 color wood engravings created between 1960 and 1964 after 100 watercolors painted between 1951 and 1960. The 100 "Divine Comedy" engravings were created from over 3,000 blocks. While frequently referred to as "wood" blocks in reference literature and catalogs documenting the Divine Comedy, the actual blocks used in the creation were not wood but a resin-based composite material. Between 1959 and 1962 Salvador Dali directly supervised the creation of the blocks and worked closely with the engraver, Raymond Jacquet and the Editor and Artistic Director of Les Heures Claires, Jean Estrade. Salvador Dali gave final approval for each of the more than 3,000 blocks used in the Divine Comedy project as well as the engravings which were produced from them. This engraving also bears the blind stamp of the late Jean Estrade, the former Editor and Artistic Director for "Les Heures Claires," the publisher and printer of the Divine Comedy. Mr. Estrade maintained a close professional relationship with Dali for many years. Mr. Estrade has signed the work by hand on the verso, attesting to its authenticity. In addition to the authentication by Jean Estrade this work has been authenticated by Dali expert, Bernard Ewell, ASA and it has also been authenticated by Daniel David, former partner of Jean Estrade. Daniel David is the current Director of "Les Heures Claires," and the copyright holder of the Salvador Dali "Divine Comedy" imagery. Mr. David has examined this individual work and hand-signed it on the verso confirming the authenticity of the hand signature of Dali, the authenticity of the hand signature of Jean Estrade on the verso and the authenticity of the documents confirming the Park West provenance. This hand-signed work came from the collection of Jean Estrade, one of three collections from which Park West's Divine Comedy collections have been acquired. As a business associate and acquaintance of Dali, Mr. Estrade arranged for Dali to hand-sign some examples of individual engravings and complete sets of the "Divine Comedy" which he retained as director of "Les Heures Claires". Park West subsequently purchased this hand-signed work directly from "Les Heures Claires" and its current owner, Daniel David. This work is classified under Park West's "ELD" Provenance Type. The provenance for this work lists each owner of the work tracing it back directly to Dali himself. The first letter of the acronym indicates the individual who arranged the signing with Dali. The letters to follow illustrate the succession of individuals or companies who previously owned the work. Therefore for this work ELD represents that the signing by Dali was arranged by Jean Estrade, the L represents that the work was then owned by the publisher of the Divine Comedy, Les Heures Claires, the D represents that the work was purchased by Park West from Daniel David. The opportunity to collect a hand-signed engraving from the "Divine Comedy" with a documented provenance, confirmed by three of the world's leading Dali experts including the publisher is rare and unusual when considering works of this great surrealist master.

Reg. No.

250986

Size

9 3/4" x 7"

Medium

WOODCUT

PW Price

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