The Dali Case
Joerg Landsiedel
I need information about the case Dali.
In the 1930ies Dali was forced to leave the Surrealists in Paris
because he published pro nazi statements.
Does anybody knows more about it? Any hints to get literature?
I need it for a study at the university.
Any information is welcome...
Thanks;
Joerg
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Joerg Landsiedel
Bill Palmer
>I need information abut the case Dali. In the 1930's Dali was forced
>to leave the Surrealists in Paris because he published pro-Nazi state-
>ments.
>Does anybody know more about it? Any hints to get information?...
Almost any good book on either Dali or on the history of Surrealism
will have something about this. One book I've found especially
interesting concerning this subject is THE HISTORY OF SURREALIST
PAINTING by Marcel Jean (Jean *is* the last name!). While I don't
have the time to quote the several pages Jean devotes this matter,
I'll give you a quicksummary and a few quotes from Jean's work:
Jean points out that many of the Paris Surrealists in the early 1930's
fell under the spell of Communism, and a number of them joined the
red Association of Revolutionary Writers and Artists. Dali did not
follow them. Anyway, most of the Surrealists were soon kicked out of
the group, because their ideas were too disturbing to this "politic-
ally correct" organization. To quote Jean:
But even if Dali's refusal to embark on this sad adventure can
thus be justified in retrospect, a much more disquieting aspect
of his political tendencies was the interest he began to show in
Nazism and the personality of Hitler. It was charitably con-
sidered to be humor--which it was, no doubt, but of a dubious
kind--when themes such as the "Hitlerian nurse" began to appear
in his pictures...
After relating some colorful details of things that annoyed many of
Dali's fellow Surrealists about his interest in Hitler, Jean further
says that,
In January, 1934, it was decided to call Dali to account, and
he was summoned to the rue Fontaine where the group [of Paris
Surrealists] was assembled in Andre Breton's studio. The tone
of the discussions, which was calm to start with, very soon
became heated, and it must be admitted that the show (there were
several performances) was well worth seeing. The number of
gags which the painter of "The Lugubrious Game" invented
on this occasion would have made a fortune in the variety
theatre.
Jean gives readers a lengthy and highly amusing account of Dali's
behavior on this occasion. Then the writer adds,
...Dali was in effect saying: I transcribe my dreams, therefore
I have no right exercise any conscious control over their con-
tents; is it my fault if I dream of Hitler, or Millet's "Angelus"?
Later, Jean says,
...Dali was indeed excluded, and soon afterwards a few members
of the surrealist group, including Breton, agreed in writing to
"fight him by every possible means".
And,
Finally, the affair petered out. The fascist riots in Paris
of February 6, 1934, and the ensuing counter-attack by left
wing groups, engaged the whole of the surrealists' attention
and time...
I have merely picked a few highlights from the many words Marcel
Jean devotes to "The Dali case". For anyone who wants to learn
what else the distinguished Surrealist historian had to say on
the subject, I recommend,
THE HISTORY OF SURREALIST PAINTING, by Marcel Jean; New York,
Grove Press, 1960. (This book is a translation by Simon Watson
Taylor of the French edition published in 1959 by Editions du
Seuil, Paris. All the material quoted above is taken from that
volume.)