A Chemist Lifting with Extreme Precaution the Cuticle of a Grand Piano

1. The artist; Julien Levy Gallery, New York, by Dec. 10, 1936 [New York 1936]; sold to Mr. Thomas Hart Fisher (died 1969) and Mrs. Ruth Page Fisher (died 1991), Chicago, Jan. 1936 until at least 1969 [Julien Levy Gallery ledger, 1929–35, Julien Levy Gallery Records, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Library and Archives; Art Institute of Chicago loan receipt 6173, Jan. 14, 1937 and letter from Thomas Hart Fisher, Apr. 28, 1969; copies in curatorial object file]. Joseph Shapiro (died 1996) and Jory Shapiro (died 1993), Oak Park, IL, by 1985 [Chicago 1985]; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1996.

Recorded by Art Institute of Chicago.

• New York, Julien Levy Gallery, Souvenir–Catalogue: Dalí paints the invisible straight from nature, Dec. 10, 1936–Jan. 5, 1937 (extended to Jan. 9), cat. 8, as A chemist lifting with precaution the cuticle of a grand piano.
• Arts Club of Chicago, Loan Exhibition of Modern Paintings and Drawings from Private Collections in Chicago, Nov. 4–25, 1938, cat. 20, as Physician Lifting with Extreme Precaution the Cuticle of a Grand Piano.
• New York, Museum of Modern Art, Salvador Dalí, Nov. 19, 1941–Dec. 18, 1942, no cat. no. (ill.).
• Indianapolis, John Herron Art Institute, Exhibition of Paintings by Salvador Dalí, Apr. 5–May 4, 1942, cat. 29.
• Paris, Centre Georges Pompidou, Musée national d’art moderne, Salvador Dalí: rétrospective 1920–1980, Dec. 18, 1979–Apr. 21, 1980, cat. 141.
• Art Institute of Chicago, The Mr. & Mrs. Joseph Randall Shapiro Collection, Feb. 23–Apr. 14, 1985, cat. 30 (ill.), as A Chemist Lifting with Extreme Caution the Cuticle of a Grand Piano.
• Fort Worth, Kimbell Art Museum, The Age of Picasso and Matisse: Modern Masters from the Art Institute of Chicago, Oct. 6, 2013–Feb.16, 2014, no cat. no.
• The Art Institute of Chicago, Salvador Dalí: The Image Disappears, Feb. 18–June 12, 2023, no cat.

• Souvenir–Catalogue, exh. cat. (New York: Julien Levy Gallery, 1936), cat. 8 (ill.).
• Marcia Winn, “Surrealist is Mystified by His Own Art,” Chicago Daily Tribune (Jan. 24, 1937), 17.
• John Menaugh, "Art Dreamlines Mae West!" Chicago Sunday Tribune, (June 26, 1938), 4 (ill.).
• Daniel Catton Rich, Loan Exhibition of Modern Paintings and Drawings from Private Collections in Chicago, exh. cat. (Chicago: Arts Club of Chicago, 1938), cat. 20, as Physician Lifting with Extreme Precaution the Cuticle of a Grand Piano.
• James Thrall Soby, The Exhibition of Salvador Dalí, exh. cat. (New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1941), 59, cat. 29 (ill.).
• James Thrall Soby, Salvador Dalí (New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1946), 59 (ill.).
• A. Reynolds Morse, Michel Tapié, Dalí: a study of his life and work (Greenwich, CT: New York Graphic Society, 1958), cat. 33, 37, 42.
• Pontus Hulten, Salvador Dalí. Retrospective, exh. cat. (Paris: Centre Georges Pompidou, 1979) 199, cat. 141 (ill.).
• Pontus Hulten, Ici commence la vie publique de Salvador Dalí, exh. cat. (Paris: Centre Georges Pompidou, 1980), 60.
• Simon Wilson, Salvador Dalí, exh. cat. (London: The Tate Gallery, 1980), fig. XXII.
• Josep Pla, Salvador Dalí, obres de museu (Figueres: Dasa Edicones,1981), 35.
• Jaume Socias, Dalí, Gent Nostra Dalí (Barcelona: Nou Art Thor, 1983), 18 (detail).

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