In the Wild Wild West of Salvador Dali lithographs in the 1980’s lithographs. The aging Dali began to reclaim his control of his legacy that had been abused by the contracts he had signed in 1979 including his infamous 11 contracts with Paris graphics dealer Gilbert Hamon. His business affairs were being weaponized by his inner circle, taking advantage of messy legal contracts, overstepping their boundaries. Dalí’s severe neurological decline meant he could no longer physically manage his empire. He needed a control shift.
Dali would kick-off the evolution of a historic monumental art market war—from the chaotic 1979 Hamon contracts to the protective 1984 Atelier Jobin counterstrike.
In 1981 Robert Descharnes was officially named Dalí’s personal secretary. His primary directive was forensic clean-up: investigating which publishers held legitimate reproduction rights and which were exploiting the artist such as the Gilbert Hamon agreements.
To combat this, Descharnes immediately authorized the Atelier Jobin Paris masterwork suite to crash the market.
Between 1984 and 1985, the French workshop Atelier Jobin was legally licensed to produce high-end lithographic editions of Dalí’s core surrealist masterpieces. The first wave of prints which were legally authentic decorative editions:
- The Burning Giraffe
- Galatea of the Spheres
- Metamorphosis of Narcissus
- Mirage
This early success paved the way for the dozens of other legitimate titles—like Moment de Transition, Leda Atomica, and The Hallucinogenic Toreador—that rolled off Claude Jobin’s presses throughout the rest of the 1980s.
Because Dalí had zero personal involvement in their creation, the art world correctly classifies these as interpretive lithographs (“after Dalí”). The workshop took Dalí’s historic oil paintings and physically translated them onto paper matrices to create a print edition.
Why they are legitimate: These were explicitly published as plate-signed editions (the signature is printed directly into the artwork from the matrix, not signed in pencil by hand). They are routinely hand-numbered in pencil out of editions of 2000 (often using Roman numerals like CMXV/MM). Because they were produced in 1984–1985, the presence of the Rives or Arches infinity watermark is completely chronologically correct and expected. The paper size was generally 19.75″ x 25.5″ (50 cm x 65 cm), dry stamped, embossed in the lower left of the sheet.
If you encounter an Atelier Jobin Paris print from the 1980s that features a handwritten pencil signature instead of the expected plate-printed signature, it is down to two main scenarios: unauthorized aftermarket addition (forgery) or a highly localized workshop distribution practice. In verified sub-editions, the graphite signature was actually applied right inside the Claude Jobin workshop—but not by Dalí’s hand.
Claude Jobin and his workshop produced a massive footprint of other Dalí prints spanning from the early 1970s up until the peak estate-managed masterwork series of 1988.
The Two Eras of Claude Jobin’s Workshop
- The Lifetime Era (1970s–1983): During this time, Claude Jobin worked directly with publishers (like Armand & Georges Israel) with the living artist’s active consent and supervision. When he printed suites like Les Chevaux de Dalí (1983), he was pressing lithographs during Dalí’s lifetime. These editions are highly valued and cataloged directly in the main chapters of the Albert Field book.
- The Estate/Posthumous Era (Mid-to-Late 1980s): By the late 1980s, the workshop operated under “Atelier Jobin, Paris” or Grapholit corporate stamps to print the large-scale masterpiece retrospectives (like The Invisible Man or The Burning Giraffe). Because Dalí was no longer capable of supervising operations, the workshop collaborated with copyright estates like SPADEM and Robert Descharnes Demart Pro Arte.
The legal permission for these editions did not come from a contract signed by Dalí’s hand. Instead, it was authorized by SPADEM, the official French copyright protection and collection society formed by visual artists and their heirs. At the time SPADEM held the legal rights to license Dalí’s pre-existing imagery for reproduction, and they formally validated the workshop’s right to execute these specific print runs.
Some of the plates were managed through Dalart NV, the asset management corporation established years earlier by Dalí and his wife, Gala. While Dalart NV held the commercial property rights to license Dalí’s name, the operations during the late 1980s were entirely controlled by lawyers, business managers (such as Robert Descharnes), and estate trustees—not by Dalí himself.
Robert Descharnes was officially appointed by Salvador Dalí to clear up the fraudulent print market. This structural transition occurred right as the workshop began preparing these mid to late 80’s editions.
In 1985, a dedicated copyright protection company named Demart Pro Arte was established. On June 13, 1986, Dalí officially signed over “the full and complete exercise of all intellectual property rights” to Demart, effectively putting Descharnes in complete control of licensing and estate approval.
Knowing that the French workshop Atelier Jobin is the same master printer used by Dali on some his renowned graphic works of the 1970’s is reassuring because it guaranteed that the technical quality of the printing matrix is exceptional. Claude Jobin did not operate a cheap “poster mill”; his workshop used traditional, high-end, multi-layered color lithographic techniques on premium wove Arches or Rives paper.
Moreover, previous portfolios produced by Atelier Jobin in the 1970s and very early 1980s were when Dalí was still physically active and involved, the Jobin workshop is explicitly cited as the structural printer or publisher of record.
When cross-referencing Albert Field catalog numbers, you will find Jobin’s name tied to verified fine art editions such as:
- Les Chevaux Daliniens (Dalinian Horses, 1972/1983): Printed at Claude Jobin’s workshop in Paris for publishers Armand & Georges Israel. It appears explicitly on pages 170–171 as Field #72-6.
- Knights of the Round Table / The Twelve Apostles (1977–1978): Published under Jobin Grapholith / Ateliers Lithographiques and fully documented as Field #72-14
- The Conquest of the Cosmos (1974) Jobin’s studio assisted with the specialized lithographic plates for this sci-fi surrealist series, combining traditional engraving techniques with vibrant, rich color fields that required Jobin’s precision hand-operated presses.
The Masterwork Series of 1988
In the 1980’s Atelier Jobin focused heavily on duplicating Dalí’s massive, complex pre-war and post-war paintings onto high-quality wove paper (such as Rives or Arches). Also there were theatrical, ballet, and musical designs backdrops including iconic individual symbols and figures from Dalí’s mid-career portfolio.
Here are some of the main lithographs for the Masterwork series that were given dedicated press runs in 1988:
- The Invisible Man (L’Homme invisible)
- Impressions of Africa (Impressions d’Afrique)
- The Tuna Fishing (La Pêche aux thons)
- Atomic Leda (Leda Atomica)
- The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory
- Santiago El Grande
- Tristan and Isolde
- The Red Piano or The Red Orchestra (Le piano rouge)
- Bacchanale
- Surrealist Portraits and Concepts
- Woman with Head of Roses (La Dame à la Tête de Rose)
- Portrait of Juan de Pareja Repairing a String of his Mandolin
- Dream of Venus II (Le Rêve de Vénus II)
- The Wines of Gala and of God (Les vins de Gala et de Dieu)
- Memories of Surrealism
Bringing Claude Jobin and his workshop into the estate strategy for Salvador Dali produced beautiful, respectable, multi-layered color lithographs of Dalí’s most iconic surrealist masterpieces. Robert Descharnes successfully neutralized the financial incentive for forgery establishing what is now considered modern standard for posthumous publishing.