Collection Use

Coloring Page of Lobster Telephone from Ultra Coloring Pages

T-Shirt of Lobster Telephone from RedBubble

Works Cited(1) Carol Damian, "'Dalí', by Dawn Ades," Hispanic American Historical Review 77, no. 2 (May 1, 1997): 294.(2) Dawn Ades, "Dalí: Paris and Madrid," The Burlington Magazine 155, no. 1322 (May 2013): 358.

Publications: Information about Lobster Telephone has been published in countless books and made into countless videos since the work was born in 1936. One book in particular, Dalí by Dawn Ades, revised in 1995, highlights its significance in art history. In the book, Ades discusses Dalí's life by specifically analyzing a number of his works, including Lobster Telephone. She explains how Surrealism and the artist's own mind influenced his creation of such objects. She also explores how pop culture has since been affected by Dalí's bold ideas (1). The object itself is reproduced within the work on page 160.
Interpretation and Education: Personally, I studied this object in a course last spring title, "Great 20th Century Artists of Catalonia." We used the work to focus on Dalí's combination of two unlike things, his unique ideas about what defined art, and his overall creativity that has pervaded the modern commercial world. As students, we discussed how a lobster and a telephone have no apparent connection but Dalí brought them together and somehow made the lobster not seem out of place. A similar theme can be seen today with the calculators that look like chocolate bars, for example. This object from 1936 demonstrates that same concept and was the takeoff point for much of pop culture today.
Exhibitions: I also was able to see Lobster Telephone on view at Tate Modern in London in their exhibit about International Surrealism. It has been enlightening visitors in that gallery since 1980. Prior, Lobster Telephone traveled to Paris to participate in a retrospective exhibit about Dalí that captured his public persona more than his strictly academic artistic skills (2).
Derivative Works: With an artist as famous as Dalí and a work as intriguing as a lobster and a telephone, many works derived from the masterpiece persist today. As important as this sculpture has been in shaping pop culture, it's no surprise one can find images of Lobster Telephone on t-shirts, coloring pages, and many more commercialized items. The mind-boggling object continues to fascinate and inspire people today.

This video is both published media discussing Dali and his Lobster Telephone as well as an educational tool for explaining the work's significance as a Surrealist masterpiece.

Research: The Archaeopteryx Fossil is one of the most valuable fossils for research ever discovered. The specimen has been used to evolutionarily connect birds and dinosaurs. Because of this significance, the fossil is continually studied, especially as new evidence is discovered that can reveal more insights. Modern technology has allowed further research through scanning and computer modeling (3). Potential replicas of the animal can be created based on the information the fossilized skeleton provides. Ten total specimens have been found for this creature, but the London specimen is the type specimen (4). This means means all other found fossils of Archaeopteryx are compared to the fossil contained in this collection.
Reproductions: Because of its high demand for research and display, many reproductions of this fossil have been made. In fact, one reproduction is even on display at the Natural History Museum in London in a separate gallery from the original, which is also on display. Like many fossils, these reproductions are sent out to other museums and research institutions so that more people may use the collection item. Many reproductions of this valuable fossil are also for sale. One must simply conduct a Google search and a wealth of options appears.

Works Cited
(3) "Archaeopteryx in London," The Guardian, February 7, 2009, https://www.theguardian.com/science/2009/feb/07/archaeopteryx-natural-history-museum-london.(4) "O. Archaeopteryx fossil," Natural History Museum, accessed November 20, 2019, https://www.nhm.ac.uk/galleries/galleries-home/treasures/specimens/archaeopteryx.

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