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Archivist Albert Field died in New York

Homage to an expert on graphic works of Salvador Dali

By Joe F. Bodenstein

 

Albert Field and Salvador Dali at the Hotel St. Regis in New York

© Foto: Dali-Archiv/Marco-VG

 

New York (bpb) Albert Field, the founder of the US Dali Archive is dead. He was 86. He died on Monday, 4th August, at Sinai Hospital of Queens in New York. There are many reasons to pay homage to this man. He worked for decades as archivist of the graphic works created by Salvador Dali. Field felt that he was authorized for this life-long mission by a personal letter from Dali. Many years later Field has published "The Official Catalogue of the Graphic Works of Salvador Dali".

Many Dali Collectors trusted these descriptions. But until now, the catalogue has not been recognized by the legal heirs, the Government of Spain and the Foundation Gala Salvador Dali.

Anyhow: the long engagement and results of Field's work is an important contribution to bring light in the darkness of the graphic-oeuvre. Field tried to verify the different technical methods of producing the graphics, and to find out the total number of prints. In this matter Field depended on information from the different publishers, or of Dali's office. Some publishers had no interest at all to give out the details. Other art publishers were not any longer able to say what was produced years ago. For instance, the Gallery Heinz Berggrün in Paris has first offered the etching "Rome and Cadaques" in a low, signed and numbered edition. But additional editions were made soon afterwards, since the demand from collectors increased.

The printers could have provided Field with the best details. But neither the Atelier Rigal (for etchings) nor the Atelier Fernand Mourlot (lithographs) were authorized to give out such information to the public. Captain Peter Moore, the most creative secretary of Dali, declared once in Paris that it will be hardly ever possible to make an exact catalogue on Dali's Oeuvre Graphic. Dali's last secretary, Mr. Robert Descharnes, could had not been of much help to Field. Publishers in USA and Europe refused to give Field any information at all.

 

Field knew much, but not everything

Over all these years Field did not get discouraged. He collected whatever he could find and his effort took him around the world. In this way he became an expert on the graphic works of Dali. Up to the end he was engaged working in his personal Archives, helped by his friend Frank Hunter. Both were many times criticized for asking too high fees for certifying graphics of the surrealist. But it seems that Field did not become very rich by this kind of business, otherwise he could have published his Dali-Catalogue in a better quality. For all his work he never received any thanks from Dali or from his heirs.

I met Albert Field for the first time in 1975. In those days he contacted the young publisher Marco Bodenstein. Field wanted to know about the published graphics and sculptures by MARCO and ART 204 in Paris. In 1974, Salvador Dali posed for Arno Breker for the only authorized portrait, which was done in three different variations. Dali dedicated to Arno Breker on his 75th birthday a lithograph "The Knight and the Prince" and an etching "The Prince with the Laurel". Dali made a special drawing for this etching.

Albert Field was an interesting personality. With his gray hair, he looked like an art professor. In the following years we met Field again and again at art expositions in Düsseldorf, New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. He was always "hunting for Dali-news.".

One day I visited Field in his home in New York. I was a bit shocked. All seemed to me disorganized. "Please do not touch anything, you could bring the things into disorder", he warned. I asked him how he find things in this chaotic mess. He tapped on this head and said: " This is all saved in my computer."

Now the computer has stopped working on August 4th 2003. Already during the last years, Albert Field lived a very secluded life. He had problems with his health.

We will keep Albert Field in our memory as he was. Those who came to know him and who admired him during his life, respect him as in idealist and as a fanatic fan of Salvador Dali. As one of the last eyewitness of the genius-artist that was Salvador Dali, Albert Field is irreplaceable. The inscription on his tomb could be: "He had lot of knowledge about Salvador Dali, but he did not know all his secrets."

 

Copyright 2003 West-Art, Prometheus 89/2003

 

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Copyright 2003 West-Art

PROMETHEUS, Internet Bulletin for Art, Politics and Science.

Nr. 89 Fall 2003