by Bonnie Schranz 
Las Cruces Museum of Art  

Portraits of Salvador Dali by photographer Philippe Halsman and a 13 piece suite of illustrations Dali created for Lewis Carroll’s book Alice in Wonderland will be on display at the Branigan Cultural Center in Las Cruces Saturday, Sept. 8 – Saturday, Sept. 29. There will be no charge to view these exhibits.

Salvador Dali created his original interpretations of the 1865 children’s classic Alice in Wonderland in 1968 – 69. The print suite was published in 1969. The prints glow with vibrant colors that convey the viewer through Dali’s strange, allegorical landscapes. The Halsman photographs, by contrast, evoke Dali’s playful, whimsical side.

Photographer Philippe Halsman (1906 – 1979) was born in Latvia and trained as an engineer in Germany before setting up his studio in Paris in 1932. He rapidly became famous for his bold portraits and his fashion photography. When the Germans invaded France in 1940 he could not get a visa to leave for America until Albert Einstein (who knew his sister) intervened with the authorities. Upon his arrival in the United State he began doing some advertising work and commissions for Life magazine. With 101 Life magazine covers to his credit, he was considered one of the leading portrait photographers of his time.

Halsman studied works of surrealist artists in Paris and learned to make images that surprised his viewers. He worked on a number of projects over three decades with Surrealist Salvador Dali, whom he met on assignment in 1941. Their most notable production was the famous Dali Atomicus with Dali, cats, water, canvas and chair apparently suspended in mid-air. Whenever Dali imagined a photograph so strange that its production seemed impossible, Halsman tried to find the solution, and invariably succeeded. Halsman’s unique photographic interview, Dali’s Mustache, was published in 1954. In 1958, Halsman was named one of the world’s 10 best photographers in an international poll.

The exhibition of Dali prints and Halsman photographs come to the Branigan Cultural Center through Blair-Murrah, a service organization that provides a wide range of exhibitions to institutions worldwide. The two BCC exhibits, offering a rare combination of talent, are perfect companion pieces to the “Dali Illustrates Dante’s Divine Comedy” at the Las Cruces Museum of Art, opening on Friday, Sept. 7 and running through Sunday, Nov. 25. There is a $5 entrance charge for visitors over the age of 18 for the Divine Comedy exhibition.

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