Subject
Dali Venus in Lo (fwd)
Date
Body
EDITOR's NOTE. NABOKV-L thanks Didier Machu <didier.machu@univ-pau.fr> for
the following very informative answer.
-----------------------------
A couple of years ago I sugested that the surrealistic Venus mentioned in
the lap scene in *Lolita* should be attributed to photographer Philippe
Halsman whose pictures were published in *Life Magazine*. He came to know
Salvador Dali in 1947 and worked with him for some thirty years, giving a
photographic rendition of his dreams, taking hundreds of elaborately staged
pictures of him that illustrate his conception of 'psychological
portraiture'. Most of them were published in *Life* (Halsman is credited
for more than 100 covers of the magazine). Many of the pictures were
collected in *Dali's Mustache* (and *Dali Atomicus*) published by Simon &
Schuster. I have several in mind (they all imply staging, optical effects
and a lot of lab work) but I have no copy of any with the Venus di Milo on
the seashore (probably taken at Port-Lligat, Catalonia) though of course
the Venus is found (with or without drawers) in many of Dali's paintings.
Latvian-born Halsman spoke Russian and French in addition to English and
German. In 1968 he was to take a series of photographs of Nabokov. Some of
them came to adorn the covers of books on or by Nabokov. Now since Mark
Dintenfass distinctly remembers having seen the actual photo in *Life
Magazine* could anyone manage to unearth it, retrieve it from back numbers
of Sham?
Didier Machu
the following very informative answer.
-----------------------------
A couple of years ago I sugested that the surrealistic Venus mentioned in
the lap scene in *Lolita* should be attributed to photographer Philippe
Halsman whose pictures were published in *Life Magazine*. He came to know
Salvador Dali in 1947 and worked with him for some thirty years, giving a
photographic rendition of his dreams, taking hundreds of elaborately staged
pictures of him that illustrate his conception of 'psychological
portraiture'. Most of them were published in *Life* (Halsman is credited
for more than 100 covers of the magazine). Many of the pictures were
collected in *Dali's Mustache* (and *Dali Atomicus*) published by Simon &
Schuster. I have several in mind (they all imply staging, optical effects
and a lot of lab work) but I have no copy of any with the Venus di Milo on
the seashore (probably taken at Port-Lligat, Catalonia) though of course
the Venus is found (with or without drawers) in many of Dali's paintings.
Latvian-born Halsman spoke Russian and French in addition to English and
German. In 1968 he was to take a series of photographs of Nabokov. Some of
them came to adorn the covers of books on or by Nabokov. Now since Mark
Dintenfass distinctly remembers having seen the actual photo in *Life
Magazine* could anyone manage to unearth it, retrieve it from back numbers
of Sham?
Didier Machu