''Shirley Temple, The Youngest, Most Sacred Monster of the Cinema in Her Time'' (or ''Shirley Temple, The Youngest, Most Sacred Monster of Contemporary Cinema''), also known as the ''Barcelona Sphinx'',Dali catalogue
(accessed 1 June 2007) is a 1939 artwork in

gouache Gouache (; ), body color, or opaque watercolor is a water-medium paint consisting of natural pigment, water, a binding agent (usually gum arabic or dextrin), and sometimes additional inert material. Gouache is designed to be opaque. Gouache h ...

pastel A pastel () is an art medium in a variety of forms including a stick, a square a pebble or a pan of color; though other forms are possible; they consist of powdered pigment and a binder. The pigments used in pastels are similar to those use ...

and

collage Collage (, from the french: coller, "to glue" or "to stick together";) is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole. ...

on cardboard, by

surrealist Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...

painter

Salvador Dalí Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (; ; ; 11 May 190423 January 1989) was a Spanish Surrealism, surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, and the striking and bizarr ...

. It measures . It is housed in

the Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, at

Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen Municipal Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen () is an art museum in Rotterdam in the Netherlands. The name of the museum is derived from the two most important collectors of Frans Jacob Otto Boijmans and Daniël George van Beuningen. It is located at ...

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

's principal art gallery. The painting depicts the child star

Shirley Temple Shirley Temple Black (born Shirley Jane Temple;While Temple occasionally used "Jane" as a middle name, her birth certificate reads "Shirley Temple". Her birth certificate was altered to prolong her babyhood shortly after she signed with Fox in ...

as a

sphinx A sphinx ( , grc, σφίγξ , Boeotian: , plural sphinxes or sphinges) is a mythical creature with the head of a human, the body of a lion, and the wings of a falcon. In Greek tradition, the sphinx has the head of a woman, the haunches of ...

. Shirley Temple's head, taken from a newspaper photograph, is superimposed on the body of a red

lioness A lioness is a female lion. Lioness(es) may also refer to: Music * Lioness Records, a British record label * Lioness (band), a Canadian indie rock band ** ''Lioness'' (EP), their 2008 EP * ''Lioness'' (Sivert Høyem album), 2016 * ''Lioness'' ...

with breasts and white claws. On top of the head is a vampire bat. Surrounding the sphinx are a human skull and other bones, suggesting her latest kill. At the bottom of the painting is a

trompe-l'œil ''Trompe-l'œil'' ( , ; ) is an artistic term for the highly realistic optical illusion of three-dimensional space and objects on a two-dimensional surface. ''Trompe l'oeil'', which is most often associated with painting, tricks the viewer into ...

label that reads: "Shirley!. at last in Technicolor."''Salvador Dalí - the first pop star of painting''

Tate Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...

(accessed 1 June 2007) The painting has been described as a satire on the

sexualization Sexualization (or sexualisation) is to make something sexual in character or quality or to become aware of sexuality, especially in relation to men and women. Sexualization is linked to sexual objectification. According to the American Psychologi ...

of child stars by Hollywood.''Most sacred monsters''

Mark Lawson Mark Gerard Lawson is an English journalist, broadcaster and author. Specialising in culture and the arts, he is best known for presenting the flagship BBC Radio 4 arts programme ''Front Row (radio programme), Front Row'' between 1998 and 2014. ...

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

, 1 June 2007 (accessed 1 June 2007)Baby Bitches From Hell: Monstrous-Little Women in Film

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

(accessed via Internet Archive 11 Feb 2014) The painting was first shown at an exhibition held at the

Julien Levy Gallery Julien Levy (1906–1981) was an art dealer and owner of Julien Levy Gallery in New York City, important as a venue for Surrealists, avant-garde artists, and American photographers in the 1930s and 1940s. Biography Levy was born in New York. Aft ...

, New York, from March 21 to April 18, 1939 (although the exhibition catalogue does not mention the painting, an article in the ''New York Times'' mentions its presence). It has also been exhibited in 1983 at the

Palau Reial de Pedralbes The Palau Reial de Pedralbes (; en, "Pedralbes Royal Palace"; Spanish: "Palacio Real de Pedralbes") is a building placed in the middle of an ample garden in the district of Les Corts, in Barcelona. From 1919 until 1931 it was the residence for t ...

in Barcelona, in 1985 at the Palais des Beaux Arts in

Charleroi Charleroi ( , , ; wa, Tchålerwè ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. By 1 January 2008, the total population of Charleroi was 201,593.

, and again in Barcelona in 2004, at the

CaixaForum CaixaForum is a series of museums, galleries and exhibition centres sponsored by Catalan bank and not-for-profit La Caixa. It has the following locations: * CaixaForum Barcelona * CaixaForum Madrid * CaixaForum Lleida CaixaForum is a cultural cen ...

gallery. From June 1 to September 9, 2007 it was one of around 100 Dalí works on display at the

Tate Modern Tate Modern is an art gallery located in London. It houses the United Kingdom's national collection of international modern and contemporary art, and forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It is ...

in London as part of the "Dalí and Film" exhibition.''Dali's silver screen surrealism explored in new London show''

Yahoo! Yahoo! (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web services provider. It is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California and operated by the namesake company Yahoo Inc., which is 90% owned by investment funds managed by Apollo Global Man ...

News in Canada (accessed June 1, 2007))

Notes

External links

Museum Boijmans van Beuningen
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shirley Temple, The Youngest, Most Sacred Monster of the Cinema in Her Time 1939 paintings Paintings in the collection of the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen Paintings by Salvador Dalí Surrealist paintings Animals in art Cultural depictions of Shirley Temple Ships in art Bats in popular culture Skulls in art Paintings of children

See also

Notes

External links