Surrealist superstar
Dali is in India and connoisseurs and amateurs alike are blown away. When alive, he never set foot on the Indian soil, but at a recent show in Delhi, his stunning etchings, tapestries and watercolours make one believe he was here often. He must have hung around in Rishikesh with the hippies or got close to the mystics in Banaras (Varanasi). Besides magical India, the show includes Greek gods, other mythical creatures, saints and witches and portraits of beauties, including Marilyn Monroe, each echoing his genius as a perfect artist.
‘Dali Comes to India’ has been curated by Christine Argillet, daughter of Pierre Argillet. A French collector, Pierre was both a friend to Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dali (1904-1989) and an established publisher for the Dada and Surrealist art groups. Their collaboration lasted 50 years and resulted in a remarkable body of etchings and tapestries, some of which the Bruno Art Group from Israel has brought to India. Dali’s sketches on India are based on Pierre’s photographs he took while visiting India in the 1970s. Christine says mysticism and magic (also linked to the Surrealist movement) were his inspiration from India. “Dali had several ‘mystic moments’ in his life and he loved to be challenged by new spiritual forms.”
For Christine, the Argillet Collection is both a tribute to her father’s dedication to the Dada and Surrealist groups and an extraordinary archive of one of the most fascinating artists in human history. Both Dadaism and Surrealism emerged in the World War years. The former attempted to counter the horrors of war by creating absurd imagery, while the latter created visions of the subconscious mind frayed and devastated by the changes the wars enforced.
The show, which opened at the Visual Arts Gallery in the India Habitat Centre and has now shifted to the Massarrat in South Delhi (on display until March 16), took almost 10 years to mount. The art gallery had to follow an arduous process of authentication. This is understandable, as Dali is believed to have signed several blank canvases. Art dealers are careful about a lot of his work, especially of the later years.
At the show, one is struck by the fragile beauty, harsh reality and inner turbulence of several images. ‘Sacred Cow — The Hippie Series’ displays both the reverence of people towards the animal, the tender feelings it evokes and the misery of poverty her shape represents. In a single image, Dali captures a huge slice of India. ‘Marilyn Monroe’ has long golden curls, but her voluptuous figure is nailed to fame and tragedy. In ‘Saint Anne’, the patron saint of women in labour appears to be delivering a nude with a cross: shocking to the eye, challenging to the mind. Dali’s images evoke dreams and enter forbidden spaces, almost like a session with Sigmund Freud, one person who influenced him greatly.
At the show, Dali’s creations sometimes appear unhinged — flowers sprouted from their head, eyeballs dancing, hands stretched like lasers… a forceful imagination on display. The dreamlike quality of many of the images forces the viewer into psychoanalysis, a journey of repressed desires and thoughts. Many of the figures are naked, stripped of their pretence, navigating the chaos of the world with their dismembered bodies. Equally impressive are Dali’s mythical creatures: Narcissus like a cool punk, Medusa an overworked nerd, Saturn tired of devouring humans.
Christine says Dali would do exhaustive research before etching on copper plates. Once he felt he had the basic idea, he worked rapidly (like the etchings of the Hippies series based on India). “He worked nearly in a movement, feverishly, translating thereby his intuitive and unconscious ideas.”
Born in 1904 in Spain, Dali started out as a ‘destitute’ artist and went on to become a multimillionaire. Famous for his 1931 work ‘Persistence of Memory’, he continued to challenge social and religious constructs even after he became a formidable force in the art world.
The Argillet Collection is a reminder that even today, this Surrealist superstar’s art is persistent in offering clues to humans about life and living. Using unconventional tools like chisels, nails, wheels, and even an octopus, Dali tried to make sense of the world within and outside.
The Visual Art Gallery sold several of his works priced at Rs 5 lakh and up. Bruno’s owner and CEO, Motti Abrahamvitz, says he is “overwhelmed” by the love for Dali in India. Many art teachers came with their students, immersed in grasping the essence of the artist’s bizarre visuals and in admiring his finesse of craft. Motti is clear — Dali will be back soon, in other Indian cities.
— The writer is a New Delhi-based contributor
