An Unknown DalÃ: Drawings and Paintings from Salvador DalÃ’s First Patron
Speaker(s): Dr. Jordi Falgà s (Visiting Lecturer in Catalan Studies, èצӰÏñ)
Joaquim Cusà was a friend of Salvador DalÃ’s father and he became an enthusiastic supporter of the young artist. Mr. Cusà was a successful pharmacist with no training in art, and yet he was the first one to purchase numerous paintings and drawings from DalÃ’s earliest individual shows in Barcelona. These works were not seen again on display during his lifetime, and scholars were never allowed to see the full extent of the collection. Jordi Falgà s has been the first art historian to study and publish these works, which constitute a significant chapter in DalÃ’s early years. In this lecture he will present the results of his research for the first time in the US, which also constitute the basis of his forthcoming book.
Dr. Jordi Falgà s is the Director of the Fundació Rafael Masó, a house museum, research and exhibition centre in Girona (Catalonia) since 2008. He holds PhDs in Art History from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Barcelona. He was Cleveland Fellow in Modern Art at the Cleveland Museum of Art (2004-2007) and Assistant Executive Manager at the Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalà (1996-2003). He has been museology consultant for GaudÃ's Casa Vicens in Barcelona (2014-2016) and project coordinator for the future Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Girona (2014-2017). As a curator, he has worked on numerous exhibitions in Catalonia and the United States, such as Barcelona and Modernity: Picasso, GaudÃ, Miró, Dalà (Cleveland Museum of Art and Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2006-2007). He has published extensively and edited several books on Catalan modern art and architecture. His latest books are Masó: interiors (2016) and DalÃ: Acadèmia neocubista i altres obres (forthcoming from Abadia de Montserrat).