Sad News from the Salvador Dalí World… Robert Descharnes, photographer and Dalí expert, dies aged 88.
If you own a book on Salvador Dali, there is probably a VERY good chance it was by Mr. Descharnes. The photographer and expert in the works of Dalí, Robert Descharnes, died at his home in Indre-et-Loire (near Tours, France), on 15 February 2014.
Born in Nevers in 1926, Descharnes was personally introduced to Dalí in 1950, through his connection with Georges Mathieu. This fortunate meeting heralded the beginning of a friendship and professional collaboration between the pair which was to last forty years.
Photographer, biographer and Dalí’s representative, Descharnes owned around 60,000 negatives of the artist and his literary offerings include the biographical works Dalí de Gala and Dalí, l’homme, l’œuvre. In the 1980s, through his business, Demart, Descharnes became involved in the eradication of fake works and the implementation of copyright. He even collaborated directly with Dalí in his role as filmmaker for the project L’Aventure prodigieuse de la dentellière et du rhinocéros, a work which was never released.
Mr. Descharnes and I met in 2007 whilst I was working on a project involving over 40 monumental-scale Salvador Dali bronzes which were eventually placed in Carlos Slim’s Museo Soumaya in Mexico City.
Our most sincere condolences are extended to the Descharnes family and all whom he affected positively over the past 88 years.
In Memoriam.
