Di Donna Galleries in New York will present ‘A Surrealist Banquet’ for the spring edition of TEFAF at the Park Avenue Armoury from May 4th- 8th. The installation, curated by Di Donna Galleries, is based on the look of the Surrealist dinner parties held during the 1920’s in Paris, where eclectic menus were served amidst curious place settings. Featuring sumptuous paintings, sculptures, and assemblages of food, wine and flowers, the New York temporary installation will showcase the Surrealist art perfectly. Over 50 artworks will be arranged around an oversized wooden dining table in one of the Armory’s historic rooms, preserved in it original state.
Following TEFAF’s closure, the installation moves to Di Donna Galleries at 744 Madison Avenue until June 2nd 2017.
Artworks on exhibit include Dalí’s iconic Buste de Femme Retrospectif; the surrealist assemblage comprising of a nude female mannequin with baguette on her head, topped with an ornate inkwell, and two corn cobs hung around her neck.
Amongst several Surrealist and Post War artists work’s, amongst them Arp, Magritte, Oldenburg, and Cesar, Dali’s Lobster Telephone is exhibited. The Lobster Telephone, is one of the most iconic examples of the Surrealist dictate of juxtaposing otherwise unrelated everyday items. Dalí strongly valued the provocative and mysterious effect of associating seemingly unrelated objects. Lobsters and telephones had strong sexual connotations for Dalí, appearing repeatedly in his work.
Established in 1988, TEFAF (The European Fine Arts Fair) is considered the premier tri-annual art fair for arts and antiques worldwide. The most recent edition of TEFAF in Maastricht, Netherlands, in March 2016, featured 275 of the world’s top galleries and welcomed 75,000 visitors from more than 60 countries.
Di Donna Galleries, in its continuing commitment to the history of Surrealism, brings to life the festive and convivial artistic spirit of those occasions that Surrealist writers and artists organized during those years in Paris.
