Salvador Dali

For my essay i will be writing about the surrealist artist; Salvador Dali. He was born on May 11th 1904 in Figuers, Spain. Dali's parents were Salvador Dalí i Cusí who was a Lawyer and Felipa Domenech Ferrés, he also had a brother who was also named Salvador who died 9 months earlier. Dali's mother encouraged him in his artistic endeavours against his father's strict disciplinary manner.


When he was 5 his family visited the grave of his brother where he was told that he was a reincarnation of his brother, Dali came to believe this concept. In 1916 Dali attended drawing school, he also discovered modern painting on a holiday with Ramon Pichot's family (Who was a local artist that made regular trips to Paris) in Cadaques. The following year Dali's father arranged an exhibition of his charcoal drawings in their home. He had his first public exhibition in 1919 at the Municipal Theater in Figuers.


In February 1921 Dali's mother died from breast cancer, he was 16 at the time. later on he said that her death "was the greatest blow I had experienced in my life. I worshipped her... I could not resign myself to the loss of a being on whom I counted to make invisible the unavoidable blemishes of my soul." Some time after his mother's death Dali's Father married his mother's sister, Dali didn't resent this marriage mainly because of his respect and love of his Aunt.


In 1922, Dali moved into the Residencia de Estudiantes (students' residence) in Madrid where he studied at Academia de San Fernando (school of fine arts). Dali became close friends with Pepin Bello, Luis Benuel and Federico Garcia Lorca during his time at the students' residence. His friendship with Lorca had elements of mutual passion but he rejected Lorca's sexual advances.It was in his painting which he experimented with cubism  which earned him the most attention from his fellow students. at the time Dali did not fully understand cubism, the only information he had was from magazine articles and a catalogue given to him by Pichot.


1924 Dali illustrated his first book. it was a publication for the poem  "Les bruixes de Llers" (The witches of Llers) who was by his friend and schoolmate Carles Fages de Climent. Dali also experimented with Dada which would influence his work later in life. In 1926 just before his final exams Dali was expelled from the Academia, the reason for this was because he stated that no one on the faculty was competent enough to examine his work.


Later in the same year Dali made his first trip to Paris where he met Pablo Picasso, who Dali revered. Picasso had heard many favourable reports from Joan Miro about Dali's work. As he developed his own style over the next few years Dali made works influenced heavily influenced by Picasso and Miro. Some trends that would continue through his life were evident in the 1920's. Dali's other influences were from classic artists such as Raphael, Bronzino, Diego Velazquez and many more. Dali used both classical and modernist techniques in his works. Exhibitions of his work in Barcelona attracted  much attention along with mixtures of praise and puzzled debates from critics. Dali grew a moustache which would become a trademark for the rest of his life.


In 1929 Dali collaborated on a short film with surrealist film director Luis Bunuel called Un Chien Andalou (An Andalusian Dog). Dali's main contribution was to write the script with Bunuel, later on Dali claimed that he made a significant role in filming but according to contemporary accounts doesn't carry much weight. In August, 1929 Dali met who would soon be his wife, Her name was Gala. her birth name Elena Ivanovna Diakonova who was a Russian imigrant, at the time she was married to surrealist poet Paul Eluard. In the same year Dali had important professional exhibitions in Paris and joined the surrealist group in the  Montparnasse quarter of Paris. The group praised what Dali called the paranoiac-critical method of accessing 
the subconscious for greater artistic creativity.


Meanwhile, Dali's relation with his father was close to breaking point, Don Salvador Dalí y Cusi strongly opposed his son's romance with Gala and saw his affiliation with the surrealists as bad influence on his morals. the final straw was when Dali's father read in a Barcelona newspaper that his son had recently exhibited in Paris his drawing of the "Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ" with a provocative inscription which said "Sometimes, I spit for fun on my mother's portrait".  


Outraged by this, Don Salvador demanded that Dali publicly apologize but, out of fear of being kicked out of the Surrealist group Dali refused. This caused him to be thrown out of his home and his father to disown him. Dali's father told him never to set foot in Cadaquès again. The following summer Dali and Gala rented a small fisherman's cabin in the bay at Port Lligat. He bought the place and, over the years, gradually expanding and soon would become his beloved villa by the sea. 


In 1931, Dali painted one of his most famous works, The Persistence of Memory which depicts several pocket watches melting. The general interpretation of the work is that the soft watches are a rejection of the assumption that time is rigid or deterministic. This idea is supported by the images in the piece such as the wide expansive landscape and the other limp watches which are being eaten by ants.


Dali was introduced to America by Art dealer Julian Levy in 1934. Thanks to Dali's exhibition in New York his work became very popular in America. Because of his popularity Social Register members organized the "Dali Ball" in celebration of his work, he showed up wearing a glass case on his chest containing a brassiere. Later in the same year both Dali and Gala attended a masquerade party in New York which was hosted for them by heiress Caresse Crosby. for thier costumes, they were dressed-up as the Lindbergh baby and his kidnapper. this caused such an uproar in the press that Dali had to apologize.


When Dali returned to Paris he was confronted by the Surrealists over his apology for an act of surrealism. 
The majority of the Surrealists had become associated with leftist politics but Dali had an ambiguous stance on  the proper relation between politics and art, this caused the leading Surrealist Andre Breton accusing Dali of defending fascism but Dali insisted that surrealism could exist in an apolitical context and refused to explicitly  denounce fascism. later in 1934 Dali was tried before the Surrealists and was formally expelled from the group, in response to this Dali retorted "I myself am surrealism".

In 1936, Dali took part in the London International Surrealist Exhibition, his lecture was called Fantomes paranoiaques authentiques. Dali gave the lecture whilst wearing a diving suit and a helmet carrying a billiard cue and leading a pair of Russian wolfhounds. because of the diving helmet Dali had to take it off as he was gasping for air, he later commented that "I just wanted to show that i was plunging into the human mind". In that same year Dali was in the audience at the premiere of Joseph Cornell's film "Rose Hobart" at Jullien Levy's gallery. The series of short films was arranged by Levy were timed to take place at the same time of the first surrealist exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art featuring Dali's work.


Half way through the screening Dali kicked the projector over in a rage, Dali said that “My idea for a film is exactly that, and I was going to propose it to someone who would pay to have it made,” he also went on to say that  "I never wrote it down or told anyone, but it is as if he had stolen it." Other versions of this claim add up to saying Levy stole Dali's thoughts. Dali's main patron in London at the time was the very wealthy Edward James who helped Dali to emerge in the art world by buying many of his works and supporting financially for 2 years. they also collaborated on the most enduring icons of surrealist art which are the lobster telephone and Mae West lips sofa. 


In 1938 Dali, thanks to Stefan Zweig met Sigmund Freud. Later in that same year Dali was invited by Gabrielle Coco Channel to her house "La Pausa" in Roquebrune on the French Riviera, it was here where he painted many paintings which he would show at Levy's gallery in New York. In 1939, Andre Bretton coined the derogatory nickname "Avida Dollars" which is an anagram for Salvador Dali. Avida Dollars which means eager for dollars was used to describe Dali's increasing commercialization of his work. Some surrealists afterwards spoke of Dali in the past tense as if he was dead. Other members of the surrealist group would continue with harsh insults up till Dali's death and beyond.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvador_Dal%C3%AD
http://www.virtualdali.com/

Neil Gaiman Research

Today I will be researching Neil Gaiman, who is an author, comic writer and film director. Gaiman is known for his "Sandman" series of comic books and the novel "American Gods". His books "Coraline" and "Stardust" have been made into successful films, and his book "Neverwhere" was adapted into a BBC2 series. He has recently written an adaptation of Kipling's "The Jungle Book", but set it in a cemetery and renamed it "The Graveyard Book", with the Mowglai character raised by ghosts and a vampire.

Neil Gaiman writes for both adults and children, with Stardust being, as he himself says, 'A fairy tale for adults'.

As a child and a teenager, Gaiman read the works of C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Lewis Carroll, James Branch Cabell, Edgar Allan Poe, Michael Moorcock, Ursula K. Le Guin, Lord Dunsany and G. K. Chesterton. He later became a fan of science fiction, reading the works of authors as diverse as Alan Moore, Samuel R. Delany, Roger Zelazny, Robert A. Heinlein, Harlan Ellison, H. P. Lovecraft, Thorne Smith, and Gene Wolfe.

In the early 1980s, Gaiman pursued journalism, conducting interviews and writing book reviews, as a means to learn about the world and to make connections that he hoped would later assist him in getting published. He wrote and reviewed extensively for the British Fantasy Society. His first professional short story publication was "Featherquest", a fantasy story, in Imagine Magazine in May 1984, when he was 23.

When waiting for a train at Victoria Station in 1984, Gaiman noticed a copy of Swamp Thing written by Alan Moore, and carefully read it. Moore's fresh and vigorous approach to comics had such an impact on Gaiman that he would later write; "that was the final straw, what was left of my resistance crumbled. I proceeded to make regular and frequent visits to London's Forbidden Planet shop to buy comics".

In 1984, he wrote his first book, a biography of the band Duran Duran, as well as Ghastly Beyond Belief, a book of quotations, with Kim Newman. Even though Gaiman thought he did a terrible job, the book's first edition sold out very quickly. When he went to relinquish his rights to the book, he discovered the publisher had gone bankrupt. After this, he was offered a job by Penthouse. On one side, it was steady income to support his wife and two kids. On the other, it was an adult magazine. He refused the offer.

He also wrote interviews and articles for many British magazines, including Knave. As he was writing for different magazines, some of them competing, and "wrote too many articles", he sometimes went by a number of pseudonyms: Gerry Musgrave, Richard Grey, "along with a couple of house names". Gaiman ended his journalism career in 1987 because British newspapers can "make up anything they want and publish it as fact.

In the late 1980s, he wrote Don't Panic: The Official Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Companion in what he calls a "classic English humour" style.Following on from that he wrote the opening of what would become his collaboration with Terry Pratchett on the comic novel Good Omens, about the impending apocalypse.

Publishers


Sandman (1989-1996) Vertigo Comics
Stardust (1998) Avon Books
American Gods (2001) Morrow
Coraline (2002) Bloomsbury (UK) Harper Collins (US)
Anansi Boys (2005) Morrow
Mirrormask (2005) Dark Horse Books
The Graveyard Book (2008) Bloomsbury (UK) Harper Collins (US)

Advertising

Mirrormask
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GA1iawlsKLg

Stardust
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6_gBg4XjWk

Coraline
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIdKHN1Bu0M

Reviews
Coraline

‘I think this book will nudge ALICE IN WONDERLAND out of its niche at last. It is the most splendidly original, weird, and frightening book I have read, and yet full of things children will love’
Diana Wynne Jones

‘This book will send a shiver down your spine, out through your shoes and into a taxi to the airport. It has the delicate horror of the finest fairy tales, and it is a masterpiece. And you will never think about buttons in quite the same way again’
Terry Pratchett

Stardust

In prose that dances and dazzles, Gaiman describes the indescribable: the eerie colours, ravishing scents and dangerous laughter of Faerie’ Susanna Clarke

http://bestsellers.about.com/od/fictionreviews/gr/stardust.htm

 Mirrormask


‘One of the most stylish picture books for 5+ ... a strange, cathartic, visually original book about a scary prediction that comes true, and is also classy and cool’
Sunday Times Books of the Year

‘This spectacular book, with its stylish blend of photography, paint, collage and drawing does not look like most children’s picture books. It bypasses the cosy, simplified clichés of child appeal, which makes it absolutely intriguing for youngsters. It is atmospheric, sinister, scary and funny …This is a book for cool kids who will grow up to be fearless’
Sunday Times

http://www.neilgaiman.com/p/About_Neil/Biography
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Gaiman
http://www.bloomsbury.com/Coraline/Neil-Gaiman/books/details/9780747594062
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Stardust-Neil-Gaiman/dp/0755322827

Comic Research

Kick-Ass

This comic is part of a mini-series about a boy who reads a lot of comics and has always wondered why no-one has ever tried to be a super hero. He found out the hard way that it's easy to get involved with some very dangerous and powerful enemies. The cover describes this danger, and I like the style of the artwork. The lines are very thin, so the colours come out more. If you're not a fan of graphic violence then you might not like the story line, The story is plausible as there are no super powers, just costumes and vigilante justice. The main character gets injured and ends up covered in bandages, like you'd expect in real life. Due to injuries at the beginning of the story, the main character can't feel pain, and the other characters rely on weapons and martial arts training.

Jimmy Corrigan

I like the artwork in this comic, it's reminiscent of comics of the 1930s such as Dick Tracey. The colours  are muted and almost pastel. The story line is about a person who works in a dead-end job in a mail office, til one day he receives a letter from the father he never met. When he meets him, he's unsure whether he's really the person he says he is. The art style, similar to Kick-Ass, relies on blocks of colour or tone rather than outlines. This gives a stylised but naturalistic appearance.

Photographer research

David Hockney


David Hockney has often been regarded as a playboy of the art world. He has had lascivious relationships, and he has run among strange and crazy artistic circles. Yet he has always retained a sense of stability in his life through his constant and tireless devotion to his work. Hockney is an artist that has always enjoyed success and praise, facing little to no hardship in his career. What is interesting about his life is not the problems he has encountered, but the strides he has taken to bypass much human suffering and malaise.

I like this piece, I like the composite effect of the multiple photographs, and the way the eye is led down the avenue to the building at the end. The trees and the opening of the avenue give a double frame-in-frame effect, which is enhanced by the vignetting of the photos on the level of the bases of the trees. This piece reminds me of futurism due to the blockiness of the image and the colours used. The whole thing gives the impression of 'moving forwards'.

http://www.davidhockney.com/bio.shtml



John Shaw


John has been a professional nature photographer since the early 1970s. His work has been published in many publications and books, including National Geographic, Nature's Best, National Wildlife, Audubon, Outdoor Photographer, and many others. In 1997 he received the first-ever Outstanding Photographer Award given by NANPA (North American Nature Photography Association).  Nikon chose him as a featured Legend Behind the Lens in 2002, while Microsoft designated him an Icon of Imaging in 2006.  He has been part of Epson's Stylus Pro fine art print makers group since 2001.

What I like about this photo is how the eye is drawn first to the moon, then to the red mountain which leads it to the top-right corner, next, back down the dark areas and then to the left of frame. From there, the eye is taken by the cloud and the grey mountain back to the moon, full-circle around the whole image. Judging by the colours, it would appear that a filter has been used to bring out the contrast.


http://johnshawphoto.com/Index.html

Review

Today I will be reviewing the Walking Dead TV series, which is based on a series of graphic novels. It's about a man who wakes up in hospital to discover that there has been an outbreak of zombies. The first couple of episodes deal with him searching for his family and coming to terms with the reality of what's happened. I felt the action was well-paced and didn't drag, and the characters weren't over the top. The story line stayed on track, and stayed with the characters. My overall judgement is that it is very tense, with good acting and effective special effects. A good example of this is when two characters leave a safe spot to hijack a van and had to go through a street full of zombies. They covered themselves in a zombie's blood to hide their own smell, but then it started to rain which washed the blood off them and they had to run down the street and climb over a fence to escape. This scene also showed the humanity of the characters, as before they cut up the zombie they looked in his wallet to find out what he had been called. The acting was very good, and I cared for their safety.