Santiago El Grande to form centrepiece of show of painter's late works in Atlanta
Telegraph-Journal
Like a long-lost sibling, the Beaverbrook Art Gallery's iconic Santiago El Grande will be reunited with other late works by Spanish surrealist painter Salvador Dalí's as the centrepiece of an exhibition this summer in Atlanta, Ga.
Troy Haines of the Beaverbrook Art Gallery prepares Salvador Dalí's ‘Santiago El Grande’ for shipment to the Atlanta, Ga. The work will be part of an exhibition entitled ‘Salvador Dalí: The Late Work,’ which is being presented by the High Museum of Art. It's the first time the four-by-three metre painting will leave the Beaverbrook since the opening of the gallery in 1959. Lady Dunn presented the piece as part of the then-new gallery's collection.
The Dalí has been requested by galleries all over the world, but the Beaverbrook has always been reluctant to lend it. The timing and conditions were never quite right, says the gallery's deputy director and curator Terry Graff. Its monumental size didn't help make things any easier.
"This is momentous. The time has come. It's time to share the Beaverbrook's collection in a much bigger way than has ever happened in the gallery's history," says Graff. "This is a pivotal moment for the gallery."
Santiago El Grande was originally designed for the 1957 Brussels World's Fair. The monumental masterwork revisits the traditional theme of Christ's Ascension.
The painting will be taken from its spot of honour, along with Dalí's portraits of Sir James and Lady Dunn that hang on each side of it, until next January.
The exhibition at Atlanta's High Museum of Art, Salvador Dalí: The Late Work, was organized in collaboration with the Salvador Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida and the Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, Figueres, Spain. The museum is also borrowing Dalí's quirky portraits La Turbie: Sir James Dunn and Equestrian Fantasy: Lady Dunn from the Beaverbrook's permanent collection.
The High Museum of Art's request for the Dalí came at the perfect time for the Beaverbrook - it's preparing a major tour across Canada and the United States of about 75 other masterworks from the gallery's collection. The gallery also admired the High Museum of Art's desire to use the exhibition to generate new scholarship on the last half of Dalí's career.
"It's part of our responsibility to contribute to that research, and collaborate and co-operate with major art institutions around the world so the story can be told. It just builds the appreciation and enjoyment of the painting, and just enriches the work that's in our collection even more.
"It's part of our overall strategic plan to be much more accessible to our public, to let people know what we're doing and what we have in the collection. Just to be an overall bigger player in a big way."
The independent curator for the Atlanta exhibition, Elliott King, says Santiago El Grande will be in great company. King is trying to put forward new views and arguments about Dalí's later career, and feels this is the perfect occasion to show a work many have seen only in reproductions.
"Obviously we were completely thrilled to have Santiago El Grande. We were very much hoping for it, but, because it's such a prized possession at the Beaverbrook, we weren't sure how realistic our request was," says King. "You hate to say it's a once-in-a-lifetime event, but it really is."
To prepare the Beaverbrook's prized possession for the trip, the work has been taken off the wall and removed from its frame - something that's been done just a few times. Given the size of the painting, all the preparations for its trip are being done in the gallery in front of visitors.
The gallery is also using the opportunity to do some conservation work on the painting. The back is being insulated and sealed off, the stretcher and frame are being stabilized and they're strengthening the frame.
"It's a good thing, even if it wasn't travelling, to have this work done. It's very interesting to see it out of its frame and to look at where the paint stops and some of the other details like the reverse side and how it's put together."
Graff will accompany the painting, which will be transported , to Atlanta in a climate-controlled truck. A special crate and sling is being built to ensure the safety of the painting.
Loaning Santiago El Grande and the Dunns' portraits for six months will leave a big blank space on the Beaverbrook's wall. Graff is using the opportunity to show more of the gallery's other works. He will reorganize the gallery, salon-style, to display portraits in the collection.
"We have so many portraits, and so many pieces that have never been seen. We have so many other gems."
