FRANK HUNTER: DIRECTOR
Salvador Dalí Archives, Ltd.

It was through Albert Field, Dalí expert and author, that Frank Hunter first met Salvador Dalí in 1968. Mr. Hunter was quickly invited to become a regular attendant at Dalí’s Sunday evening gatherings at the St. Regis Hotel in New York City. There he came to know Andy Warhol, W.H. Auden, and many other now iconic figures of the New York arts scene.
Though an architect by profession, Mr. Hunter found a real passion in the fine draftsmanship of Dalí’s work; the movement contained in a simple line, the burst of energy in his colors. From the late 1960s on, Mr. Hunter began to assist Mr. Field in compiling and maintaining materials and information about Dalí.

This “Archive” of Dalí material, by then already called the Salvador Dalí Archives, had been established by Mr. Field in the mid 1950s. Dalí granted Mr. Field not only his approval, but his full cooperation. He, supplying Mr. Field with information and photographs of his works during his annual visits to New York City.

In 1973, Mr. Hunter, inspired by the surrealistic imagery of a sonnet from Dante Alighieri’s La Vita Nuova, commissioned Dalí to produce a graphic work based on it; one year later, Dalí gave Mr. Hunter a copper plate containing his creation, titled To Ev’ry Captive Soul. Shortly thereafter the etching was published jointly by Mr. Hunter with the Salvador Dalí Archives, as a limited edition etching.

Mr. Hunter assisted Dalí many times while he was in residency in New York, including one memorable experience in which he was asked by Dalí to draft and paint geometric figures on a nearly completed miniature copy of Raphael’s School of Athens [it now residing at the Dalí Theatre-Museum (Figueres, Spain).

With Mr. Field’s passing in 2003, Mr. Hunter has continued with the work of maintaining an Archive of Dalí material. Mr. Hunter’s keen eye and nearly forty years experience with Dalí’s art has served him well in the work of authenticating Dalí works. He is currently the Director of The Salvador Dalí Archives.

Among his many accomplishments, Mr. Hunter has provided expertise and information for the following organizations and/or exhibitions:

● Surrealism: A Cross Cultural Perspective, September, 2000 through January 2001; Nassau County Museum of Art, NY. Authored the catalog introduction for the exhibition; assisted in compiling materials for loan to the exhibition.

● Christie’s Education, New York, 2000, 2003 - Lectured on Dalí’s graphic works.

● Salvador Dalí: Dream of Venus, June, 2003 through September, 2003, The Queens Museum of Art, New York City - member of the Honorary Committee for the exhibition.

●Biography: Salvador Dalí, 2004. Interviewed by Gabriella Polletta for documentary film; produced for A & E (Arts and Entertainment) channel.

● Order of Salvador, 2006. Invited to receive the honorary Order of Salvador by the Salvador Dalí Museum, St. Petersburg. Invested into the Order as KtOS [Knight, Order of Salvador].