"Museums begrudgingly acknowledge that Dali is one of the most popular 20th-century artists, but his work is still treated with critical disdain by curators and historians of modern art. The disapproval stems not only from unease with his apparently retrogressive paintings and his own much-publicized attacks on 'modern art', but also his publicity-seeking self-promotion, the commercial exploitation of his talent, his politics and lack of morals, all of which are eagerly if inaccurately and irrelevantly invoked to reinforce aesthetic judgments." "This is an opportunity to reassess Dali's work as a whole and to explore, in greater depth than ever before, his so-called 'late work' as well as the early and surrealist periods. The density and originality of his paintings become ever more striking as time goes on, but should not be hived off from his other activities: writer, poet, printmaker, sculptor, film-maker, inventor of objects, theatre designer and curator of exhibitions. His writings, perhaps above all, are now seen not just as ancillary to his paintings but as major texts. These are part and parcel of a continuous flow of ideas, optimism and ambition for which 'success' was an irrelevant or ambiguous concept."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved