Salvador Dalí and the Surrealists: Their Lives and Ideas, 21 Activities

167 Pages·2003·3.71 MB·English

To my son Nick
May your life be full of surreal humor and creativity
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Foreword by Peter Tush, Curator of Education, The Salvador Dalí Museum
Time Line
Introduction
1 KING DALÍ
Pictures Everywhere
Art Studio
Crystal Eyes
2 LESSONS FOR A YOUNG ARTIST
Free Association Fun
Inkblots
Splotch Art
3 A LEAP INTO THE SUBCONSCIOUS
Automatic Writing
Poetry from the Deep
Solar Prints
Video of Dreams
Dream Journal
4 DALÍ AND THE SURREALISTS
The “Exquisite Corpse” Drawing
Poem Objects
Surreal Objects
Art in a Box
Host a Dream Ball
Impressive Art: A Frottage
5 DALÍ THE CLOWN PRINCE
Unreal Comedy
Dalíesque Fashion Collage
Double Image Art
Dreamscape
6 CELEBRITY ARTIST
Hair Art
Glossary
Resources
Bibliography
Museums
Web Sites
Image Credits
Index
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Many thanks to Peter Tush and the staff of the Salvador Dalí Museum for
advice and access to archives. I am grateful to the students of Mariposa Middle
School who field-tested the activities and inspired me to complete the project.
I offer hugs to my wife and son, who shared the joy of exploring Dalíworld
and supported my efforts to create this book.
FOREWORD
As the curator of education at the Salvador Dalí Museum, I am thrilled to have
the opportunity to recommend Michael Ross’s wonderful new work on Salvador
Dalí. For years I have waited for an appropriate book to recommend to students
and teachers that communicates Dalí’s truly remarkable life and ideas without
compromising his complexity in its presentation. I believe that Ross has achieved
this delicate balance, providing an exciting context in which to discover the
fascinating world of this internationally celebrated Catalan surrealist.
Drawing on more than 25 years of experience as a science educator at
Yosemite National Park, Ross has brought a unique sensibility to the world of
Dalí. His background in ornithology, geology, botany, and entomology has given
him the ability not just to present Dalí’s fascinating story, but to capture and
engage with Dalí’s ideas. With his lengthy experience of working with children
and writing children’s books, Ross opens the door to Dalí’s ideas for a new
generation. The joy of discovery associated with scientific research translates well
to the world of Dalí, an artist who constantly applied scientific information to his
paintings. Using extensive hands-on projects and art activities, Ross invites
young readers to reexperience Dalí’s discoveries firsthand, providing
opportunities to engage in the creative processes of Dalí’s approach to art and
living.
Michael Ross is a gifted storyteller as well, and he makes Dalí’s life come alive
for young readers. Whether explaining the complex world of surrealism,
exploring Spanish and Catalan culture, covering the entangled historical figures
from Dalí’s life, analyzing the optical phenomena and symbolism in Dalí’s work,
or elucidating the surrealist’s interest in the unconscious, Ross succeeds where
other authors have fallen short. Not only is Dalí and the Surrealists appropriate
for students and teachers, it will be enjoyed by anyone wishing to rediscover why
Dalí has fascinated generation after generation of art lovers worldwide.
—Peter Tush, Curator of Education
The Salvador Dalí Museum, St. Petersburg, Florida
TIME LINE
1874 First Impressionist Exhibition in Paris
1900 Sigmund Freud publishes Interpretation of
Dreams
1904 Salvador Dalí
born on May 11
1914World War I
begins
1917 Dalí begins
formal art
studies
Russian
Revolution
1929 Dalí meets Gala
Stock market
crashes and
the Great
Depression
begins Buñuel and
Dalí's first film,
Un Chien
Andalou, is
shown in Paris
1930 Buñuel and
Dalí collaborate
on the
film L'Age
d'Or, which
is later
banned
1931 Dalí paints
The Persistence
of Memory
Establishment
of a Republic
in Spain
1934 Dalí makes
first trip to
New York
Right-wing
riots in