Salvador Dali Signed 13" x 17" "INFERNO (HELL) CANTO 32" Divine Comedy LE Wood Engraving Custom Archival Mat on Rives Paper # EA

Rare 1960 limited edition woodcut engraving. The image has the proper impressions made by the wood blocks for each color pressed into the paper Measures 10.25" x 13" overall in size. Hand-signed and numbered in RED crayon/pencil by Salvador Dali. Exclusive well documented edition of only 150 plus EA; Excellent Condition. Image size approx. 10.25 x 13 with a deckled edge at the bottom on B F K RIVES archival paper.. Piece includes a Pristine Auction LOA for authenticity purposes.



The Signed Edition



This artwork is on B F K Rives paper with a watermark Les Heures Claires on some of the sheets indicating it was produced as part of the French Edition and is hand signed in color by Dali in the lower right quadrant. It is also numbered from the edition of 150 plus EA in the lower left quadrant. Documented in Albert Field Official Catalog of the Graphic Works of Salvador Dali pages 192 & 200 and Michler/Lopsinger Catalog Raisonnes. This specific edition of 150 is from the edition in which contracts were made with Salvador Dali who agreed to hand sign them in the 1960's at St Regis Hotel in New York City. Dali signed these rare hand signed prints in three colored crayons/pencils: Blue for Heaven, Purple for Purgatory, and Red for Hell. The color matches the special accompanied text sheets.



Hell: Canto 32



" The Betrayers To Their Homeland " "

Wood Block Engraving



10.25” x 13”



1960



The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri remains today one of the pillars upon which the European literary tradition has been built. Originally titled simply Commedia, Dante's masterpiece was written at the end of his life and finished just before his death in 1321. Presented in the edition published by Les Heures Claires is Salvador Dali's interpretation of the wonderful and intense imagery that Dante formed through spinning a web of words both exciting and exhilarating.



To celebrate the 700th anniversary of Dante's birth, the government of Italy planned to issue a special edition of The Divine Comedy. For this issue, Dali created 101 watercolors between 1951 and 1960. In 1954, La Libreria della Stato published a brochure with seven of the paintings reproduced full size as lithographs, together with sample pages of the text. The prints are 16 1/2 inches x 11 inches with narrow margins. Due to the opposition these prints created, the Italian government dropped the project and postage stamps were issued instead. Several years later, Joseph Foret, in Paris, who had previously published other Dali suites such as Don Quichotte, started production of the prints by wood engraving. Master engravers worked from 1959 - 1963 to carve 3500 separate wood blocks for the 100 prints. The Divine Comedy project was then taken over and completed by Jean Estrade of Les Heures Claires. (See below for edition information.)



History of the Work



In 1957, DALI was approached by the Italian government to illustrate the DIVINE COMEDY. A contract was signed, and DALI set to work. The entire work rrequired more than 3,500 carved wood blocks.



In 1958, a new government was elected in Italy, which objected to the idea of entrusting the illustration of the DIVINE COMEDY to a foreign artist. As a result, DALI contacted two Parisian publishers, Joseph FORET and Jean ESTRADE, and jumped on an aeroplane. A new contract was signed, ensuring that one of the most beautiful works illustrated by DALI would in fact be French!



The work of Salvador Dali (1904-1989) is associated with the surrealist movement of the 20th Century. A diverse and multi-talented artist, Dali is considered one of the most collected artists today, and his works offer an incredible opportunity for enormous appreciation in value. In addition to his original works, Dali produced works on paper for reproduction using dry point, etching, woodcut, and lithography. Many of his works are held in prestigious private and public collections world-wide.



From writing of Dante on the Inferno(Hell) of The Divine Comedy

Dante searched for rhymes that would help alleviate the suffering of the shades in the upper circles, now he calls out for "rhymes rugged and harsh and hoarse/ fit for the hideous hole" — horrible words befitting the utter horror of this most horrendous place, the very bottom of Hell, reserved for the most heinous sinners.



A soul cries out for Dante to be careful not to tread on the heads of the souls in that frozen lake, and Dante turns and sees that the sinners are frozen according to their sin. Dante and Virgil are in the first of four rounds of the final circle, Cocytus. The first round is called Caina, and the sinners here have their heads bowed toward the ice, chattering their teeth and crying.



Dante looks around and sees two sinners clamped tightly together, breast-to-breast, and asks them who they are, to which they do not reply but butt their heads together like goats. A nearby sinner with his ears frozen off replies that these two were brothers, and that there are no two more deserving of punishment in all of Caina than these two. He goes on to name other sinners, and finally himself.



Moving further towards the center of Hell, Dante accidentally kicks the face of a sinner, who yells at Dante, asking him why he would want to cause him more pain. Dante asks Virgil for a moment to speak with the sinner, and his wish is granted. The sinner asks Dante who he thinks he is, kicking the faces of the sinners in Antenora, the second round of the ninth circle. Dante replies that if the shade tells him his name, he will make him famous on Earth. The shade does not want to comply, and Dante grabs a handful of the shade's hair and threatens to tear it out if he does not give his name. The shade says he does not care if Dante should rip until his brain lies bare; he will not tell, to which Dante rips out tufts of the sinner's hair. A nearby sinner tells Dante the name of the reluctant sinner, Bocca, who then will not shut up as Dante commands, telling him the names of many other sinners in the round with him.



Upon leaving Bocca, Dante comes across two sinners in such close proximity that one is feeding off of the back of the other's neck. Dante offers to tell the sinner's story in the upper world, if the sinner would tell it.



Canto XXXIII opens with the sinner's tale. He was Count Ugolino, and the soul he feeds upon was Archbishop Ruggieri, on whom he trusted. Ruggieri imprisoned Ugolino and his four sons in a tower, nailed the doors shut, and starved them all to death. Ugolino is forced to watch his young boys starve one by one. And his hatred for Ruggieri increases with each of his son's death. Once through with his long and passionate tale, Ugolino goes back to feeding on Ruggieri.



As the poets move along, they come to a place where the souls are not placed vertically in the ice, but they are supine with only their faces raised out of the ice. As a result, their tears freeze in their eyes, creating little crystal visors over their eye sockets. Dante is beginning to feel chilled and also feels a wind blowing over the ice — Virgil says that the source of the wind will soon be known.



One of the shades locked up to the face in the ice of Ptolomea, the third round of the ninth circle, begs Dante to remove the sheath of ice over his eyes so that he may cry freely for a while. Dante promises to do so if the shade tells him his name, saying that he will go to the last rim of the ice if he does not keep his promise. The shade complies, saying that he was Friar Albergio.



Dante, sure that Friar Albergio is not yet dead, is shocked at this confession. Albergio tells Dante that his sin was so terrible that the moment he committed it, he was taken out of his body and thrust here, and that a demon took the place of his soul in his worldly body. He names another person that Dante knows for certain is alive that this has also happened to, and Dante does not believe him, though the shade is convincing. Dante refuses to keep his promise to remove the frozen tears from the shade's eyes, saying that rudeness in Hell is a courtesy. Dante makes a plea to the city of Genoa about this sinner, telling them that they have a demon in their midst, and says that he wishes the whole lot of them driven from the Earth.

Due to the uniqueness of each item, please refer to the photos provided in this auction. We offer high resolution images of each item rather than a written description of condition.

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