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Arts & Entertainment

Original Salvador Dali Prints at Wentworth Gallery

Wenworth Gallery in Westfield Shopping Center is holding a one-week exhibit of the Argillet Collection of Salvador Dali's original etchings, tapestries and watercolors from now until March 20.

"It's a unique opportunity to acquire a museum piece," said Anne Dorman, regional manager for the Westfield Montgomery Shopping Center and Tysons Galleria Wentworth Gallery locations.

On March 13, both locations held an opening reception featuring the Argillet Collection of Salvador Dali's original etchings and tapestries.

On consignment to the Wenthworth Gallery Corporation, the exhibit at Westfield Montgomery Shopping Center also features an original watercolor painting and gouache: "Study for Blue Horses" and "Apparition Of A Grasshopper On Perpignan." Among the orginal Abusson tapestries were "Piano Under Snow" and "Individual Bullfight."

The reception at Westfield Montgomery Shopping Center, held from 1:30 p.m. until 4:30 p.m., was well-attended and several pieces were already sold to collectors. Christine Argillet, daughter of Pierre Argillet and current owner of the collection, was present to greet visitors and answer questions about the collection.

"My father was a publisher of the Dada and Surrealist groups. At first he collected their work, and then he began to publish it. He had a friendly relationship with Dali in particular so he collected more of Dali's work," she said. "More than 200 of his publications feature the work Dali produced between 1934 and 1974. This show is a tribute to both Dali and my father, Pierre Argillet."

Pierre Argillet collaborated with Salvador Dali on more than 200 etchings and encouraged the artist to produce copper-plate-based prints. Their collaboration ended in 1974, when Dali sought to transfer his production process to photo-based lithography, which reached a wider audience and proved successful.

However, the Argillet Collection of Dali's prints represents a unique period in history. Only a limited edition of prints, currently available for sale at Wentworth Gallery, celebrate Dali's partnership with Argillet, which extended to the revival of the historic French Abusson tapestry business following World War II.

The show at Wesfield Montgomery Shopping Center is organized thematically. Each gallery alcove contains works Dali produced in response to a different influence.

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His sources of inspiration include poems by Surrealist French poet Apollinaire, Renaissance French poet Ronsard and iconic Communist Chinese leader Mao Zedong, as well as Goethe's Faust, Don Juan, bullfight scenes based on Picasso's Tauromachie, Hippies, based on Dali's trip to India, and from mythology. Depictions of Dali's series Venus in Furs and Theseus and the Minotaur etchings are also in the show.

"My father loved the etchings. They are unique in that they reflect beautiful drawing technique and direct etching on copper," said Christine Argillet, who spoke at length on the collection at the Ritz Carlton in Tysons Corner on March 12.

Most of the pieces in the exhibit at Westfield Montgomery Shopping Center are hand-colored with stencil by Salvador Dali. Most of them are editions of about 100. Interest-free financing is available on select pieces.

The pieces are on view until March 20 at both locations.

To see the Argillet Collection online at Wentworth Gallery, click here.  

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