by Jon Lackman | 1 May 2008 | Uncategorized
In 1938 Dalí presented a taxi as art, but it was a real taxi that precipitated the death last week of Enrico Donati, the “last of the Surrealists.” Unlike his good friend Marcel Duchamp, who only dabbled in the worlds of business and perfume, Donati, according to the New York Times,
was for many years as engaged in the business world as he was in the world of art … In the early 1960s, he joined the board of Houbigant Inc., one of the oldest purveyors of French perfumes and eau de cologne. In 1965 he bought the company, which was privately held. In 1978 Fortune Magazine reported that as chairman and chief executive, he had “revived the sagging fortunes” of the company, then worth $50 million.
