Of all the Parisian Surrealists, Salvador Dalí was by far the most frequent visitor to Manhattan in the 1930s. He always attended his numerous shows at Julien Levy gallery in midtown, and stayed for a period of time to stir up publicity. Collaborating with Levy, Dali staged unique performative events, from shop window designs to an entire pavilion at the NY World’s Fair of 1939. By the time of the Museum of Modern Art’s 1936 exhibition, Dali was widely hailed as the face of Surrealism. Two very different New York artists who felt his influence in this decade will be discussed: Joseph Cornell and Jackson Pollock.
Lewis Kachur is Professor of Art History at Kean University of New Jersey. He received his doctorate from Columbia University, and is a specialist in twentieth century and contemporary European and American art. A pioneer in the field of exhibition history, Kachur authored Displaying the Marvelous: Marcel Duchamp, Salvador Dalí and Surrealist Exhibition Installations (MIT Press, 2001). His museum catalog essays include “Picasso et les musiques- populaires et folklorique- du cubisme,” in Les Musiques de Picasso, Musée de la musique, Paris, 2020, pp. 84-91. “The ABCs of New York Surrealism in the 1930s: Austin, Barr, Cornell…” in the exhibition catalogue, Surrealism in American Art, Marseilles museums, France, 2021.
Organised by Dr Lucy Bradnock and Professor Gavin Parkinson (The Courtauld) as part of the Modern & Contemporary Series.
