Divine Trinity: Dante, Dore, Dali

Halsey Art Center is proud to present “Divine Trinity:  Dante, Dore, Dali”, an exhibition of original prints by the 19^th century French illustrator Gustave Dore and the 20^th century Spanish artist Salvador Dali.  Both were inspired by the 14^th century Italian writer Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy to illustrate scenes depicting a journey through hell, purgatory and paradise.  Completed in 1321, the Divine Comedy stands as one of the greatest works of Western literature, poetically describing visions of the afterlife in terms of moral rewards or punishments.  In 1860, Gustave Dore self-published “Inferno” with 75 illustrations and following that up in 1868 with “Purgatory and Paradiso”, containing 60 illustrations.  In 1963, Salvador Dali released a limited number of portfolios containing 100 woodblock prints corresponding to the original 100 verses or cantos in Dante’s original work.

Instead of presenting all 135 Dore illustrations and all 100 Dali illustrations, a limited selection of prints have been paired to highlight the similarity of visions presented by these two artists.  The corresponding (translated) verse of Dante’s Divine Comedy is included as reference to these pairings.  The Dore prints were extracted from a 1860 copy of Inferno and a 1892 copy of Purgatory and Paradiso.  Dore never released these illustrations in a detached portfolio version.  The Dali prints are all first edition, published in portfolios by Les Heures Claires, signed in woodblock and by hand.

Opening on Friday, October 11 with a reception from 6-10pm, “Divine Trinity:  Dante, Dore, Dali” will run through the end of the year.  For more info, contact curator (M. Gosser):  smatt_nj@yahoo.com