Salvador Dali (1904-1989) – Jean-Michel Frank (1895-1941)
Dalí Lamp for Jean-Michel Frank, circa 1930
Lampe Dali from the Jean Henson collection & corpus of referenced exemplars
Certificat Comité Jean-Michel Frank n° 2025/2190
Plaster, wickerwork & cotton twine.
Height max. 45 cm, Diameter max. 47 cm.
Base: H. 5,5 x L. 28,5 x W. 24 cm
Ball: Diameter max. 24 cm (+/-).
Lampshade: H. 22,5 x W. 47 cm
The rectangular base in plaster with its two raised ends resembles the characteristic shape of an opium smoker’s headrest *. Into its circular indent fits a hollow irregularly shaped flattened ball, also in plaster, like a large stone polished smooth by the sea.
* Frank, Cocteau, Dali and many artists and intellectuals of their generation indulged in opium. A terra cotta lamp base by Frank circa 1929 – in the same spirit but positioned vertically – was known as the Chinese pillow. cf. Jean-Michel Frank, l’étrange luxe du rien, Pierre-Emmanuel Martin-Vivier, pages 264, 318.
A wickerwork and cotton twine lampshade with circular openings top and bottom sits on the ball, held in place by cotton twine tied to six metal hooks spaced around the bottom.
A moveable plaster cone fits into the opening at the top to reflect an indirect halo of light. The bulb socket is mounted on a square wooden sole sunk into the plaster under the ball, the electrical cord passing in at the side of the base to feed it. An inset ivory collar surrounds the cord on the side of the base.
The ball sits easily in the indent of the base and can be tilted more or less to vary the lamp’s halo. Indeed, rather than sit rigid and straight it should be set at a tilt with a sensual sway – as witness the period photos by Jean Kollar, François Collas and others, taken notably in Frank’s boutique.
Jean Henson collection
Frank and Henson have been very close since 1923, after they met one summer in Capri, in the company of Misia Sert, the poet Mireille Havet, the composer Georges Auric and the painter Alexandre Iacovleff …
At that time Frank was not yet a professional decorator and was tempted to become a writer; Henson, who had served with the US Navy, had set up in Paris in 1919 after he was demobilized and worked as an occasional model, notably for Man Ray whom he had known in New York. In Paris they frequented the same artistic, bohemian and social circle, including Christian Bérard, Jean Cocteau, Emilio Terry …
Jean Henson (1894-1974) came of a modest family from Georgia (USA); he met Violet Tyden (1887-1971), the daughter of a senior British Army officer, on Capri at the Villa San Michele, home to the famous Swedish doctor and writer Axel Munthe.
They married in 1926 and decided to live at Hammamet in Tunisia, which was then a French protectorate, having fallen under its fairy-tale spell while on honeymoon.
In 1927 they began to build their house there, a simple, white-washed villa in the vernacular style facing a deserted beach surrounded by several hectares of botanical garden – Jean Henson’s passion.
For near on 50 years this elegant and eccentric couple, figureheads of the cosmopolitan and refined Café Society of the between-war era, were hosts to artists, writers and actors from all over the world. Their house was a hub of fashionable social and cultural life, even though it was located near what was then just a fishing village hidden behind the walls of its medina.
In the 1930s George Sébastian Ghika, a wealthy art collector of Rumanian origin who was a friend of the Hensons and one of Frank’s clients, built a large adjoining villa, known as Dar Sébastian, which after his death became the Hammamet cultural centre. Elsa Schiaparelli, also a friend and client of Frank’s for her fashion house and for herself, had a small holiday home built there around 1950, having fallen in love with the place.
‘Jean-Michel Frank, who has always been my best friend (…) He is generally recognized as the best decorator of our time and has always offered me all the beautiful things he creates for my house in Hammamet (…) We saw Jean-Michel for the last time (…) in 39. For him, the shadow of the Beasts was already hovering over France and the world. He spoke of it with humor (…) adding: “Don’t forget to take the Dali drawing that I gave you, we will probably never see each other again. ’
*cf. Jean Henson, A time for reflexion, éd. Somogy, Paris, 1949, page 194.
Indeed, Jean-Michel Frank gave Jean Henson many gifts from the early years of their friendship, particularly plaster works for his white house in Hammamet, including a pair of Frank’s Columns of Light, this Dali Lampfor Frank and several works by Alberto Giacometti for Frank; as well as a Coffee Table in an Inverted U covered by Hermès for Frank.
When she was just a child at Hammamet the Hensons took this gifted Tunisian girl under their wing. She hailed from a progressive family and in time became a top model in Paris for Guy Laroche, and for over forty years art directress for the faubourg Saint-Honoré show windows of Hermès. When the Hensons died she inherited their house at Hammamet and all that it contained, which she treasured until she herself passed away at the age of 93.
– ‘Jean & Violet Henson collection’, Coutau-Bégarie sale, Paris, 30/11/2023, lot 53.
The contents of the Hammamet house were put up for auction at the Hôtel Drouot in a sale that drew sighs and gasps from aficionados of works by Frank, and for Frank by Giacometti and Dali. Besides English furniture, curios and family paintings full of charm by Violet Henson there were works in plaster by Alberto Giacometti for Frank, of which the Oiseau Mural in relief, the Lotus Vase and the À cornes Vase, the GrecqueLamp and the Égyptienne Lamp. Then came the Table en U inversé sheathed in leather by Hermès for Frank, the pair of Colonnes à coupes éclairantes by Frank (incorrectly attributed in the catalogue) and the Dali Lamp.
Estimations were pulverized – a fitting tribute to the talent of the creators and the taste of the successive owners who had conserved these fragile and precious works from a golden age for almost a century.
Five exemplars of the Dali Lamp are known to have been made, four of which have come onto the art market in the past thirty years. The Henson exemplar is the only one that is identifiable by period photos, and whose traceability runs continuous up to the present.
It is noteworthy in relation to this lamp that the first exemplars to come onto the art market in 1994 were the pair from the Edward James collection, bought by Galerie Arc en Seine, which were attributed by mistake to Diego & Alberto Giacometti (cf. bibliography. Edward James collection, Galerie Arc en Seine). This lamp model is not listed in either of the two books Jean-Michel Frank, Éditions du Regard, 1980 and 1997.
All the period photos of the Dali Lamp available to date are shown below.
The present exemplar from the Jean Henson collection
This exemplar is either one of the first made if not the prototype. The cord runs up from the base to the bottom of the ball and not directly into its side, as is the case with the one from the Artcurial sale; this gives a more pleasing aspect but is less practical since it requires handling of the whole to shift the lamp. Indeed, the early friendly relations between Frank, Henson and Dali lead us to believe that it might well be the first exemplar.
Elsewhere, according to the restorer and concordant clues, the Henson exemplar was the first to be made, since the ball was moulded in a plaster mould made directly from the original clay. The mould for the ball had two halves, the seam of which is still visible on the potatoid* sphere, and its surface has many ‘craters’ and irregularities because of the thick grain of the clay. Photos of the other exemplars show the surface of the ball more carefully finished and smooth.
*The term potatoid is used in mathematics and is extrapolated to other exact sciences to designate an irregular potato-like shape. It often serves to describe objects in outer space such as asteroids or planets that – like the Earth – are not perfect spheres.
Restoration :
Because of its design and the fragile nature of its materials the exemplars of this lamp as listed were either in poor condition or needed to be restored.
Our exemplar differs in one respect since both base and ball were well preserved under layers of whitewash applied regularly over the years, as is the custom in Tunisian houses, which enabled it to be restored to mint condition.
The conical reflector in plaster and the wickerwork lampshade – both missing – were faithfully re-made, as well as the ivory cord collar.
While the electrical cord was replaced, the original bulb socket was cleaned and re-mounted.
Restored by Jacques Bourgeois, sculptor restorer and professor at the École des Beaux-Arts de Tours for ‘Restoration of scuplted works’, who has often worked for the Monuments Historiques.
With expert assistance provided by Pascale Roumégoux, former Villa Médicis resident scholar, specialized in ‘Restoration of sculpted works’
Bibliography & relevant information:
– Harper’s Bazaar. April 1933, page 47.
Photo of Dali Lamp with Elsa Schiaparelli mannequin.
– Harper’s Bazaar. June 1935, page 138.
Photo of Dali Lamp, terra cotta candlestick by Alberto Giacometti, mica box and gouged table by JM Frank. Photo François Kollar, circa 1931.
– Une Thébaïde tunisienne
Femina December 1947-January 1948 page 141 to 144.
Photo-reportage on the Henson house at Hammamet, in which are to be seen discreetly two Giacometti vases as well as his Oiseau mural in relief, and one Luminous column and dish by Frank, but not the Dali Lamp. The text does not mention these works – nor their creators – no doubt considered outdated seventeen years after their creation… and after a World War arousing an irresistible desire for renewal.
– A time for reflexion
Henson’s memoirs; no illustrations. Several passages dwell on his friendship with Frank.
Jean Henson, éditions Somogy, Paris, 1949.
– Hors du temps et de toute tendance
Maison française, pages 167 to 171
Photo-reportage on the Henson house at Hammamet. Only the Oiseau mural in relief by Giacometti is to be seen in one photo. No mention is made of Giacometti, Dali or Frank in the accompanying text. It is striking to see to what extent Frank and decorative works by Giacometti and Dali for Frank had been forgotten by the 1960s, in the midst of the Design craze, only to be rediscovered in 1980 with the Jean-Michel Frank monograph by Editions du Regard.
– Rencontres d’une vie 1945-1984 (souvenirs de M.P.)
Pierre Le-Tan, éditions Aubier, Paris 1986.
Drawing probably inspired by the illustrations in Femina magazine, captioned ‘Jean Henson’s salon in Hammamet’, page 106, on which appears a Column with an illuminating cup by Frank and the Lotus Vase by Giacometti in a niche.
Pierre Le-Tan (1950-2019) refined dandy, gifted illustrator and avid collector revered the universe of Jean-Michel Frank. This little book is a charming and nostalgic fiction that deals with an era he could not have known by experience, and its protagonists – including Jean Henson. He did however benefit from the reminiscences in their old age of key players, such as Boris Kochno, companion of Christian Bérard – from whom Le-Tan had acquired numerous works.
– Brassaï : les artistes de ma vie
Viking Press New York, 1982. Photo of Dali at Cadaquès, 1955, page 41.
– Alberto and Diego Giacometti
Exhibition catalogue of Edward James collection at Galerie l’Arc en Seine, Paris (6 October – 15 December 1994), see page 27. Pair of Dali Lamps – wrongly attributed at the time to Diego & Alberto Giacometti.
– Diego Giacometti
Exhibition catalogue, Éditions de l’Amateur & Galerie L’Arc en Seine, Paris, 2003. Pair of Dali Lamps, see page 27. NB: Lamps wrongly attributed at the time to Diego & Alberto Giacometti.
– Jean-Michel Frank, l’étrange luxe du rien
Pierre-Emmanuel Martin-Vivier. Éditions Norma, Paris, 2006, Dali Lamps pages 61, 198-199, 250 and 284. Dali Lamp for Paul Eluard mentioned page 283.
– Surreal Things, Surrealism and Design
Catalogue of the itinerant exhibition mounted by the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (29 March – 22 July 2007); Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum, Rotterdam (29 September 2007 – 6 January 2008) ; Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao (3 March – 7 September 2008), Éditions V&A Publications, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2007. Dali Lamp page 197.
– Jean-Michel Frank : un décorateur dans le Paris des années 30
Pierre-Emmanuel Martin-Vivier. Catalogue of the exhibition at the Fondation Pierre Bergé – Yves Saint-Laurent, Paris (2 October 2009 – 3 January 2010), Éditions Norma, Paris, 2009, Dali Lamp pages 78 and 85.
– Elsa Schiaparelli’s Private Album
Marisa Berenson. Double-Barrelled Books, London, 2014, page 154. Period photo showing Dali Lamp taken in the bistrot décor cellar of Elsa Schiaparelli’s townhouse, rue de Berri in Paris.
– Artcurial art déco & design sale
Paris, 24 November 2021, sale 4163, lot 129, five reproductions of Dali Lamp.
– ‘Jean et Violet Henson Collection’
Coutau-Bégarie sale, Hôtel Drouot Paris, 30/11/2023, lot n°53, reproductions of Dali Lamp pages 76-77 and 81 (our exemplar before restoration), pages 78-79 (our exemplar in situ circa 1930).