Which artist created the 1936 sculpture Lobster Telephone?

Salvador Dalí created the 1938 Surrealist object Lobster Telephone, combining a plaster telephone with a lobster.

The work is a classic example of the Surrealist strategy of joining unrelated objects. A telephone is a practical communication device, while a lobster is organic, edible, and visually striking. Their combination creates humor and unease by disrupting ordinary expectations about what belongs together.

The date is often given as 1938, and several versions were produced in different colors. The object was made in collaboration with the British poet and collector Edward James, an important patron of Surrealism. It is sometimes called Aphrodisiac Telephone, but Lobster Telephone is the standard English title. The piece is not a conventional sculpture carved from one material; it is an assemblage of existing objects transformed by their improbable pairing.