Salvador Dalí, place and date unknown
If he is famous for something Jacques Leonard, It is because of his fascination with the gypsy culture and the entire universe that surrounds it, reflected in his magnificent photographic work.
A lesser-known aspect of his work is the portraits, which we can now discover in Salvador Dali. Jacques Leonard.
On September 20, on the occasion of the International Festival of Photography In Cadaqués , this exhibition is inaugurated in which will be shown unpublished photographs of Salvador Dalí taken by Léonard between the 50s and 60s.
The exhibition, which can be visited until September 29 at the Oda gallery (Curós street, 8) .
Salvador Dali, Port Lligat, 1957
The exhibition has been organized by the Photographic Social Vision Foundation , an entity that represents the Jacques Léonard Family Archive and is made up of 14 photographs, some of them unpublished.
In them are shown the friendship and complicity that existed between both artists and the skill of Jacques Léonard as a portraitist is valued.
The exhibition includes images of three photographic reports that the French photographer made to the surrealist genius: the first in 1955 for Revista, the second in 1957 for La Gaceta Ilustrada and the third in 1963.
Dalí and Léonard were introduced by Alberto Puig Palau , a textile industrialist belonging to the Catalan bourgeoisie, friend and protector of artists.
In the images we see a Dalí in artificial attitudes and in his intimacy, in poses that range from the typical artful gesture of the painter to the most everyday scenes.
Salvador Dali, Port Lligat, 1963
Jacques Léonard was born in Paris in 1909 and married Rosario Amaya, a Catalan gypsy from the Montjuïc neighborhood, it was there that he began his passion for gypsy culture.
In line with this theme, on Friday, September 20 the exhibition Gypsy Dances is also inaugurated in the cultural center Alfolí de la Sal de l'Escala.
It is a sample of 16 images in which you can see dance scenes that Jacques Léonard captured at various parties of the gypsy communities with which he lived.
Also, in spring, the prestigious Anne Clergue gallery in Arles will host another exhibition dedicated to the photographer with snapshots certified by his son and that will be for sale, being the first time that the works of this French author can be bought in France.
Salvador Dalí, place and date unknown