Salvador Dali 1944

Harry Sternberg made this intriguing print of Salvador Dali, with ink on paper. There is something so vulnerable about this image, look how the artist's process is laid bare! The lines are almost scribbled, and the exposed anatomy is quite raw. The figure’s head is concealed beneath a kind of mask or shroud, showing multiple profiles. It's like the artist is searching for the essence of the subject. What does it mean to represent someone? The mark making is very immediate, like an artist thinking aloud on the page. See how the figure appears to be painting himself! The surrealist pioneer André Masson often used automatic drawing to unlock the creative potential of the unconscious, and I think I see a hint of this method being used by Sternberg. It reminds me how artmaking is always a journey of discovery, a process of revealing and concealing.