Signed Salvador Dalí prints found collecting dust in a garage

By Adam Dutton via SWNS

A collection of signed Salvador Dalí prints that spent 50 years gathering dust in a garage are set to fetch thousands at auction after being found during a clear-out.

The ten forgotten lithographs by the renowned Spanish surrealist were found in the garage of a house in Berkeley Square, Mayfair, London.

They were bought for £500 from an art gallery at a closing-down sale during the 1970s and could now fetch £5,000 when they go under the hammer next month.

The seller was having a clear-out while preparing to move house abroad when he discovered the 'treasure trove' of artwork recently.

The haul also includes five lithographs by French painter, engraver, illustrator and sculptor Theo Tobiasse.

The Dalí prints are expected to fetch £300-£500 and the Tobiasse works £100-£300 when they are sold by Hansons Richmond in London on September 30.

Antiques expert Chris Kirkham, associate director of Hansons Richmond, said: “It was an amazing find.

"I was invited to assess some antiques at a client’s home.

"During the visit, the vendor took me to his garage and, lo and behold, out came this treasure trove of surrealist lithographs - all 15 of them.

"They’d been tucked away and forgotten about for around 50 years. It felt quite surreal. You never know what you’re going to uncover on a routine home visit.

“The buyer paid a modest £500 for the lithographs, all unframed, in a closing down sale at a central London gallery in the 1970s.

"He purchased them with a view to framing them for his home in Berkeley Square but never got round to it. So the prints ended up in his garage.

"They were rediscovered because the seller has been having a clearout.

"He’s looking to retire and move abroad, so now his lithographs will finally see the light of day at auction.

“Dali and Tobiasse are highly regarded and anything connected to them is sought after.

"These lithographs provide an inexpensive way to own a signed print.”

Catalonia-born surrealist Salvador Dalí (1904-1989) received his formal education in fine arts in Madrid.

He became increasingly attracted to avant-garde movements and joined the Surrealist group in 1929, soon becoming a leading exponent.

One of the most prolific artists of the 20th century, he’s renowned for his technical skill and bizarre images.

Influenced by Pablo Picasso, Joan Miró and Sigmund Freud, his repertoire included paintings, sculpture, film, graphic art, animation, fashion and photography. 

Théo Tobiasse (1927-2012) was born in Jaffa, Mandatory Palestine, in 1927, to Jewish parents.

The family moved to Paris in 1931 where his typographer father found work in a Russian printing press.

Tobiasse’s first canvases were exhibited at the Salon des Peintres du Sud-Est in 1960.

In 1961 he won a prize for ‘Young Mediterranean Painting’ and the Dorothy-Gould Prize.

In 1962 he exhibited at Paris’s Galerie du Faubourg Saint-Honoré and decided to devote himself solely to visual arts.