Michéle Gerber Klein, whose 2018 biography of the fashion designer Charles James was called “uproarious” by The Financial Times, will be at East Hampton’s LongHouse Reserve on Sunday at 4:30 p.m. to talk about and sign copies of her new book, “Surreal: The Extraordinary Life of Gala Dalí.”
Just published by HarperCollins, the biography is the result of five years of research and writing. Ms. Klein’s narrative mines previously undiscovered or untranslated material, including Gala’s secret diaries. It also incorporates exclusive in-depth interviews with sources who had never before spoken for publication about either Gala or Salvador Dalí, including William Rothlein, Gala’s late-life lover; Claire Sarti, her granddaughter, and Dick Cavett.
While most closely associated with Salvador, her connection to the worlds of art and literature can be traced to 1917, when, after leaving pre-revolutionary Russia for Paris, she married Paul Éluard, a famous poet and one of the founders of the Surrealist movement. They subsequently engaged in a ménage à trois with Max Ernst.
She met Salvador, 10 years her junior, in 1929, and became his mentor, lover, and, in 1934, his wife. At a time when artists were celebrities, Gala was an ambassador of the Surrealist movement, spreading its popularity across the globe. The survivor of two world wars, as well as the Russian Revolution and the Spanish Civil War, she and her husband lived after 1947 between France, Spain, and the United States.
About what drew her to her subject, Ms. Klein said, “Surrealism revolutionized art as the world knew it, moving it away from religious or sentimental representation into the kingdoms of intuition and psychic perception, pushing hard against accepted norms. At its center stood Gala — the ‘bad girl’ who not only got away with out-of-the-box behavior, but triumphed because of it . . . Gala was fierce, tender, and intrepid — I find that a compelling combination.”
Vogue magazine called “Surreal” “the first serious, deeply researched biography of a woman long overshadowed by the men she inspired,” while Adam Weinberg, director emeritus of the Whitney Museum of American Art, wrote, “Gerber Klein’s exquisitely portrayed and wickedly amusing account is a romp through the annals and escapades of an avant-garde movement that profoundly informs artistic discourse today.”
The program will be led by Tiffany Dubin, whose career has spanned the worlds of fashion, art, and jewelry. Tickets are $35, $25 for LongHouse members.
Also on Sunday, at 3 p.m., LongHouse’s Insider/Outsider series will present a workshop and talk with Kris Waymire, an Inupiaq and Quechua artist who works primarily with beads and textiles.
Workshop participants will learn how to create twined baskets, using plastic bags gathered from around New York City. While baskets are traditionally woven from natural fibers, plastic bags, which can take thousands of years to break down, “present a modern twist on a timeless craft,” according to LongHouse.
Moderated by Mago, an artist and curator, this year’s series is presented in partnership with Jeremy Dennis and the artists of Ma’s House & BIPOC Art Studio. Tickets are $20, free for members and students.
