Critique de Choice

This catalog of the Salvador Dali exhibition at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts is introduced with a succinct essay by Robert Descharnes, and a selection of quotations by Dali from various sources such as Diary of a Genius (CH, Feb'66) and The Secret Life of Salvador Dali (1942) that are grouped together on various topics such as himself, his wife Gala, money, and politics. The catalog concludes with illustrations of some works by 11 artists admired by Dali, such as Meissonier and Miro, along with quotations about them by Dali, a selected bibliography, a biographical survey, and an index of works exhibited. In between are good-quality illustrations of the 135 works (paintings, drawings, etchings and sculpture) in the exhibition. This catalog covers much the same ground as other useful surveys of Dali's life and work, for instance, Robert Descharnes's more compact Salvador Dali (CH, Feb'77), Descharnes's more complete Salvador Dali: The Work, the Man (CH, Jan'85), and Meryle Secrest's more readable Salvador Dali (CH, Mar'87). -G. Eager, Bucknell University