Lot 17
An inscribed reproduction portrait of Harpo Marx by Salvador Dalí
25 November 2013, 13:00 EST
Los AngelesSold for US$4,000 inc. premium
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An inscribed reproduction portrait of Harpo Marx by Salvador Dalí
Photomechanical print on paper, depicting Marx at his harp with a lobster and an apple on his head and a liver draped over the instrument in Surrealist fashion, inscribed and signed at lower right in pencil by Dalí, "Pour Harpo Marx son ami / Salvador Dalí."
Provenance: Estate of Harpo Marx; Collection of William W. Marx, Rancho Mirage, California.
The original pencil portrait of Marx from which this is reproduced was completed by Dalí in Feburary, 1937, during the artist's visit to Hollywood; today it is in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
The two men became friends in the 1930s when Dali sent Marx a gift of a harp with barbed wire strings and tuning knobs made of cutlery. They also collaborated on an unrealized film script entitled Giraffes on Horseback Salad. The artist wrote to André Breton of his visit to Los Angeles: "I've made contact with the three American surrealists: Harpo Marx, Disney, and Cecil B. DeMille. I believe I've intoxicated them suitably and hope that the possibilities for Surrealism here will become a reality."
Framed: 17 x 21 in.; Within mat: 11 1/4 x 8 3/4 in.
Provenance: Estate of Harpo Marx; Collection of William W. Marx, Rancho Mirage, California.
The original pencil portrait of Marx from which this is reproduced was completed by Dalí in Feburary, 1937, during the artist's visit to Hollywood; today it is in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
The two men became friends in the 1930s when Dali sent Marx a gift of a harp with barbed wire strings and tuning knobs made of cutlery. They also collaborated on an unrealized film script entitled Giraffes on Horseback Salad. The artist wrote to André Breton of his visit to Los Angeles: "I've made contact with the three American surrealists: Harpo Marx, Disney, and Cecil B. DeMille. I believe I've intoxicated them suitably and hope that the possibilities for Surrealism here will become a reality."
Framed: 17 x 21 in.; Within mat: 11 1/4 x 8 3/4 in.
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