Portrait of Mr Emilio Terry (unfinished) by Salvador Dali (1930)

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a) References in shadows
I think this work of Dali's references both the Henu Barque and then also Salvator Rosa's "Temptation of St Anthony painting from 1645, since I think that Dali often referenced the Henu Barque in his paintings over a certain period.

Although often this has been dated back to 1930, it was until 1932 that Dali started his portrait of Emilio Terry, but I want Sergei Eisenstein and HP Lovecraft to have seen this painting perhaps an earlier stage to set them off drawing their pieces in 1931 that appeared to have referenced this piece in some way, I wanted an image of this to have been included amongst black and white photos sent to the Wadsworth Atheneum for when they held Newer Super-Realism in November 1931 and somehow Eisenstein and Lovecraft would have seen the image and been inspired. (I'm trying to avoid the idea of secret society pooling Henu Barque images to hand out across the world but following my theory, perhaps I ought to be asking if there was sort of secretive interest in that way, but there is a lot of discussion about Eisenstein's and Lovecraft's possible connections with secret societies.)

Perhaps I am asking too much. Also I might also want to ask if Dali re-purposed the composition to include Emilio Terry and his little spiral building. There is an architectural drawing by Emilio Terry that has something in common with this painting and I might wonder if Dali referenced this as well if it was painted before this was completed. 
 
 
 
 

 

c) References Salvator Rosa's Temptation of St Anthony?
 
It also appears to play some of the visual games with negative spaces associated with The Temptation of St Anthony painting by Salvator Rosa from 1645, and the elongated form at the top of the dark sculpture in Dali's painting strangely resembles the head of this elongated bird demon, while the eye hole could represent the space in the bent neck. 

It would be something that Sergei Eisenstein would appear to pick up upon in 1931 in his drawing "Bullfight as a Crucifixion" 

See: The "Via The temptation of St Anthony" trail





d) Comparison to drawing by Emilio Terry
Another thing to consider though is the similarity between the dark mutant piano structure in Dali's painting and a design by Emilio Terry, perhaps Dali was referencing this as well, but there is no date, so I can't say whether it was drawn before or after the portrait was done.

undated drawing by Emilio Terry

 
 
 

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  1. Article on Portrait of Mr Emilio Terry (unfinished) by Salvador Dali (1930) referencing the Henu Barque posted on 24th December 2017

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