Salavador Dali, Michelin Slave

A detailed Summary of Salavador Dali, Michelin Slave

In his book entitled Esculturas. Sculpture. A. Reynolds Morse identifies two distinct categories in the sculptures of Salvador Dali. The first is defined as the "only genuine group of Dali's original sculptures"(Morse, Esculturas. Sculpture p. 16). This group of forty-three wax sculptures, made between 1971 and 1981, are known today as the Clot Collection. The originality of these works lies in the fact that both the idea and its execution truly bore the hands of the artist. By contrast, Morse refers to the second category of sculptures as objects representative of Dali's ideas. (ibid.) These objects are typically assemblages or transformations of existing objects into Dali's surrealist experiments. He began creating these works in the early 1930's, and by the end of the 1960's they came to both represent and attract a mass commercial market.

Michelin Slave is an object that falls under this second, more commercial category, and was therefore created prior to 1971. An understanding of the evolution of Michelin tires helps to further narrow the time period within which the work was conceived. Between 1950 and 1970, Michelin marketed the radial tire marking a real technological revolution. It would gradually take over all types

of vehicles and all markets and give Michelin a decisive advantage over its competitors. (Michelin). Perhaps inspired by its radical innovation, Dali envisioned the combination of this highly commercial product with Michelangelo's Dying Slave (1513-15416) (see fig.1). The result is a three dimensional representation of a Dalinian concept known as the Michelin Slave.

The Michelin Slave is a bronze sculpture with a brown patina. It is a frontal sculpture, meaning the view from the front is the primary view. Tool marks indicate the heavy treads on the tires. There are visible green marks particularly in the crevassed areas such as the tire treads, on the face of the slave between the nose and the eye, and on the back of the slave. This may indicate the areas to which a protective wax layer may not have reached, thus accelerating the process of oxidization. The significant weight of the object can be attributed to the fact that the model is made of bronze. This suggests that a direct casting method was used. The model has deteriorated significantly, crumbling to the touch and exposing the core pins. In conclusion, it should be noted that deceptive weight is not uncharacteristic in Dali's sculptures. Explaining his intentions to layer a plaster-like mount over the bronze cast of the Venus de Milo aux Tiroirs, Dali refers to the characteristically surrealist theory that things are not always as they appear: "When is try to lift, is coming one

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Approximate Word count = 977
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Arts