Introduction

Lobster Telephone (1938) is a sculpture in the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh. It was created by artist Salvador Dalí and poet Edward James, and is made from a plaster lobster and a functioning Bakelite telephone. It is one of several versions of Lobster Telephone made by Dalí and James. (Edward James used some of them as telephones in his house!) As well as white versions such as this one, polychrome versions of the sculpture were also made, with black telephones and orange lobsters.

Lobster Telephone 1938

Salvador Dalí (1904–1989) and Edward James (1907–1984)

National Galleries of Scotland

About Salvador Dalí

Salvador Dalí is perhaps the best-known artist associated with the Surrealist movement, largely because of his showmanship and talent for self-publicity. Born in Spain, he moved to Paris in 1926 and joined the Surrealists in 1929, after dabbling with Cubism and various other styles. His artistic output of the late 1920s and 1930s exemplified Surrealist interests and ideas – especially their fascination with dreams.

Read: Salvador Dalí biography on Art UK

Metamorphosis of Narcissus (Métamorphose de Narcisse) 1937

Salvador Dalí (1904–1989)

Tate

About Edward James

Edward James was an English poet and art collector. He supported many Surrealist artists in their careers including René Magritte, Max Ernst and Leonora Carrington as well as Dalí.

Watch: Surreal Encounters: Collecting the Marvellous for more information about Edward James

Activity: first impressions

Look at this photograph of Lobster Telephone with your students.

Lobster Telephone 1938

Salvador Dalí (1904–1989) and Edward James (1907–1984)

National Galleries of Scotland

Discuss the sculpture as a class.

• What do you think of the sculpture?
• What two objects can you see?
• When do you think the sculpture was made? Could it be contemporary?
• What art movement do you think it might be associated with?

It may help in gathering first impressions, to task your students with thinking of five words in response to the sculpture. They could write these down and then share them with the rest of the group. (The words should be honest, immediate responses and could include responses such as 'weird' or 'rubbish'!

What do you think? Ideas and objects

In the video, the curator explained that although Salvador Dalí and Edward James are listed as the artists behind the sculpture, they did not actually make it. The sculpture was Dalí's idea – he had exhibited a live lobster on a telephone at a Surrealist exhibition in Paris in 1936. Edward James (with Dalí's permission) had the plaster lobster made by local tradesmen to fit onto an existing, functioning telephone.

When existing, manufactured objects or objects from nature are used in artworks these are often referred to as found objects.

Discuss with your students:

• does it matter that Salvador Dalí and Edward James didn't actually make the sculpture?
• what is more important the idea or the object?

Teachers' notes and development ideas

• In discussing this you could perhaps use the analogy of fashion, where a designer designs clothes and puts their name to them, but doesn't actually make the clothing.
• You could also look at the approach of contemporary artists, such as Damien Hirst and Jeff Koons, who often commission craftsmen or fabricators to make their work.
• Conceptual Art emphasises the idea over the object. In this Art UK video, students discuss ideas vs. objects in relation to a sculpture by Martin Creed: Sculpture in focus: Work No. 88 by Martin Creed

What do you think? Lobster Telephone then and now

The students in the video wondered whether Lobster Telephone would have been more shocking in the 1930s – when it was first exhibited – than it is now:

'It would have been quite outrageous for the time because you wouldn't have had this sort of thing around'

'I think it's still a bit shocking because even though the phone is a bit old fashioned now, it's strange to see a lobster on top of any phone!'

Lobster Telephone 1936

Salvador Dalí (1904–1989)

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 Ask your students what they think. Use these prompts if helpful.

• Do you think the sculpture looks shocking?
• Do you think it would have been shocking to people in the 1930s? Why?
• What sort of sculptures do you think people saw in art galleries in the 1930s?
• Are we are more used to the idea of the surreal in the twenty-first century,  than people might have been in the 1930s?
• Can you think of any contemporary artworks that might have shocked people when they were first exhibited?

Teachers' notes: was Lobster Telephone shocking in the 1930s?

In the 1930s many of the sculptures on display in museums are likely to have been more traditional classically inspired sculptures. 

But artists including Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore were experimenting with abstraction, and their sculptures would have looked radical to art gallery visitors. (Although their sculptures were generally made using traditional sculpture techniques such as carving and casting, and traditional materials such as bronze and stone.)

• Discuss with your students whether Lobster Telephone, with its functioning telephone and jokey subject matter, would have looked more out-of-place in a gallery than these abstract sculptures.

Pierced Hemisphere II 1937–1938

Barbara Hepworth (1903–1975)

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Carving 1936

Henry Moore (1898–1986)

Henry Moore Foundation

Contemporary shockers!

Contemporary artworks that caused controversy when they were first exhibited, include Tracey Emin's My Bed (1998) and Damien Hirst's Mother and Child Divided (1993 & 2007).

• Discuss with your students how they would react if they saw this Damien Hirst sculpture in a gallery.

Mother and Child (Divided) 1993 & 2007

Damien Hirst (b.1965)

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Surrealism and popular culture

Surrealism has had a huge influence on popular culture, so the imagery included in Lobster Telephone is probably more familiar to us now. You could discuss with your students the use of surreal imagery in contemporary advertisements, video games, comic book films and pop videos.

What can we learn about Surrealist art from 'Lobster Telephone'?

Surrealism was an art and literary movement founded in Paris in the 1920s. The Surrealists were influenced by psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, who believed that our minds are divided into two parts – the conscious and the unconscious. Our conscious minds are rational and are what we use to make decisions every day. Our unconscious minds are where our memories are stored and fuel our irrational thoughts, dreams and fantasies.

Watch and discuss

The videos below provide more information about Surrealism.

• Choose one of the videos to watch as a class. (Video suggestions are included for different age groups).
• Then discuss with your students how you think Lobster Telephone reflects the main ideas of Surrealism.

Teachers' notes

These are some of the ways Lobster Telephone reflects the main ideas and interests of Surrealism.

• It looks like something you might see in a dream (or nightmare!)
• It looks as if it was made by chance – with two random objects placed together. (Automatism was a key concept of Surrealism. Surrealist artists used various techniques to enable the outpouring of unconscious thought, typically using arbitrary methods that allowed chance to play a key role.)
• It is a familiar object but altered to make it appear strange and unsettling. (Reflecting Sigmund Freud's theories about 'the uncanny'.)

Activity: explore more Surrealist sculptures

Discuss these Surrealist sculptures with your students. All include found objects that have been transformed to create artworks.

If helpful, use these nudge questions to get the discussion going:

• what objects can you see in each of the artworks?
• how have the artists changed the objects?
• what is the effect? what do the sculptures make you think and feel?

Activity: Make a sculpture inspired by 'Lobster Telephone'

Inspired by the pairing of a lobster and a telephone, task your students with making their own Surrealist sculpture by pairing two unlikely things. 

Lobster Telephone 1938

Salvador Dalí (1904–1989) and Edward James (1907–1984)

National Galleries of Scotland

Starting points: weird pairings

Use the Surrealists' interest in chance to inspire the sculptures.

• Write the names of animals, birds and insects on bits of paper and put them in a bag.
• Now write the names of objects on bits of paper and put them into another bag. (Try and choose ordinary domestic objects, such as a toothbrush, a shoe, a toy car, or objects found in nature such as sticks or shells.)
• Invite each student to take out one piece of paper from each box. Share and enjoy the results!

Surrealism-inspired activity, weird pairings

Planning the sculpture

Students could start planning their sculpture by drawing or collaging photographs of their object and animal pairings together. This doesn't have to be done in a straightforward way:

• they could juxtapose bits of the object and animal
• or design an abstract sculpture inspired by the shapes and features of their animal and object
• they could also use traditional drawing and collage techniques or digital image-editing tools

Dalí and James made use of the shape of the lobster to suggest the telephone receiver. Are there any features of their animals that students could make use of in relation to their objects?

Sculpture ideas

Students should now have some sketches and plans for their sculpture. Here are some ideas for materials and approach:

• use clay, air-drying clay or plasticine to make sculptures, modelling the combined animal and object
• for that authentic Surrealist look, students could combine a real, existing object (if it's something that is handy, portable and not too precious!) with an animal, or part of an animal, using clay or craft materials using construction techniques
• you could also have a go with your class at casting an object in plaster (if it's not too big!) and combine this with a modelled animal

A toothbrush dragonfly inspired by 'Lobster Telephone'

A hybrid creature made from a stick and wire forming a reptile head

Sculpture technqiue tips

Use these resources for sculpture ideas and tips:

Art UK Home School: create a wire hybrid creature

Art UK Home School: make your own pet from junk

CultureStreet: make a clay sculpture

CultureStreet: casting with plaster