Glasgow by Alan Taylor

Author:Alan Taylor
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Birlinn

THE DALI STORY, 1952

T.J. Honeyman

Spending money on art always has a tendency to bring frothing philistines to the fore. So it was no surprise when Glasgow Corporation decided to use public money to purchase Salvador Dali’s surrealist Christ of Saint John of the Cross that critics began to howl. Tom Honeyman (1891–1971), Director of Kelvingrove Art Gallery, pressed ahead regardless and persuaded the powers-that-be that this was an opportunity not to be missed. And so it has proved. Dali’s wonderful painting is one of many jewels that belongs to the people of Glasgow. Honeyman’s reputation and charm were such that he was able to attract several major gifts to the city’s galleries and museums, including the peerless collection of Sir William Burrell (1861–1958). Ironically, and sadly, Honeyman had to leave his post in 1954 after he lost the support of his political master, the new chairman of the Glasgow Corporation Art Committee.

Of course we expected criticism, but not quite the concentrated bitterness or irresponsibility on the matter of the purchase price, £8,200. The decision reached by the Corporation was not lightly taken. Glasgow wanted the picture and Glasgow had to pay the price, which, after considerable negotiation, was fixed at the lowest figure acceptable to the artist – the catalogue price had been £12,000. I remember that about the same time a small picture – in an imperfect state – Christ and the Woman taken in Adultery by Peter Brueghel was sold in auction for £11,025. Commenting on this Denys Sutton, then art critic of the Financial Times and now editor of The Apollo magazine, said ‘Its price, though high, bears greater relation to its value than the £8,200 paid by Glasgow for a painting by Salvador Dali.’ I still wonder who and what determines that. His and similar criticism led me to retort:

‘Some years ago a leading gallery in this country paid something like £12,000 for a “genuine” Old Master. It has now been discovered that the “Old Master” is still alive, and the picture now reposes in a basement as a “curio”. At least we know who painted Dali’s picture. Recently a collector paid an even larger sum for another “Old Master” which is a triumph of the art of the restorer. The “hand” of the master is buried in the velvet glove of contemporary pigments. Paint and canvas begin to undergo the perishing processes within a short time after the completion of a painting. By that token we should be able to enjoy “pure” Dali for a much longer time than some other expensive works.’

We also reproduced in the Art Review the pre-Raphaelite picture Christ in the House of His Parents or The Carpenter’s Shop by Sir John Millais which, not so many years previously, was bought for £10,500. It is in the Tate Gallery. The vicious contemporary criticism, including a piece by Charles Dickens, was also reprinted with a final comment from William Armstrong.

To the artists, including Augustus John, who deprecated this ‘wilful extravagance’ and deplored

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.