Bid to find UK buyer for £850k Dali phone

ONE of surrealist artist Salvador Dali’s white lobster telephones could be lost from the UK unless a buyer steps in with more than £850,000.

Arts Minister Michael Ellis has put a temporary export bar on the artwork, Lobster Telephone (White Aphrodisiac), by Salvador Dali and Edward James, to give buyers a chance to keep it in the UK.

It is one of 11 lobster telephones commissioned in 1938 by James, Dali’s patron and an English poet known for his promotion of the surrealist movement.

Inspiration for the telephones came in 1936 when Dali, James and others were eating lobsters and one of the discarded shells landed on a telephone, experts said.

Each of the phones, seven of which were hand-painted white and four painted red, is unique. James owned a collection of surrealist work, including both phone versions, at Monkton, his house in West Sussex.

Most of the white versions are in museums abroad, including in Rotterdam, Florida, Johannesburg, Minneapolis and Lisbon.

Mr Ellis said: “This iconic work was created in the UK, and I want it to remain here. It is important we keep world-class art in this country and I hope a buyer can be found.”

The decision to issue a temporary export bar follows a recommendation by the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest (RCEWA), administered by The Arts Council.

RCEWA member Richard Calvocoressi said the importance of the piece could not be overestimated.