St. George & the Dragon
Etching
1947
By Paul Chimera
Dali Historian
(Mr. Chimera worked directly with Dali Museum founder Reynolds Morse, as the publicity director of the original Dali Museum when it was located in Beachwood, Ohio.
Salvador Dali embraced certain themes with uncanny passion and persistence, and one of those is certainly that of St. George and the Dragon. Combined with Dali’s remarkable draftsmanship – as sharp as a dragon’s tooth – you’ve got the makings of an extraordinary “Dalinian”print.
Iconic in the annals of mythology, the St. George and the Dragon legend has endured for centuries, focused upon a plague-bearing dragon that was to be fed a king’s daughter. Until St. George charged in on horseback, armed with a mighty lance, and gave the beast a grievous wound – slaying it. On the site where it died, the king built a church, from whose alter a spring arose, and whose waters cured all disease.
Salvador Dali was right at home with such an ambitious and imaginative motif. Like his affinity for the legend of Don Quixote, as well as the works of Shakespeare (which included a St. George and the Dragon reference), Dali saw in the St. George tale a conquering hero and titan among men. Indeed, wasn’t that Dali’s mission from an early age – to be not just an artist, but a successful artist…a great artist…the best artist? He made his mother proud, a desire that fueled his quest to be number one.
Like artists before him whom he revered – including versions of St. George and the Dragon by Gustave Moreau and Raphael – Salvador Dali produced a variety of works in various mediums that captured the spirit of victory inherent in the story. This 1947 etching is especially superb, exuding great detail and a deft handling of an often tricky medium.
Dali visited this theme in other impressive ways, as well. Important examples include a small, jewel-like oil on marble; countless representations of the theme in drawings; several sculptures; even a 1962 oil titled “St. George and the Dragon,” but showing only St. George on his steed – no dragon is to be found anywhere in the picture!
I think what fascinated Salvador Dali about this theme were several things. The man loved Greek and Roman mythology – and a sense of fantasy in general. He even saw himself and Gala as modern day versions of Castor and Pollux. Mining mythological ground was therefore completely natural and comfortable for Dali.
What’s more, the long lance or spear seen in the St. George motif seemed to be a kind of favorite accoutrement found in Dali’s pictorial lexicon. One might argue it was almost fetishistic, like his ubiquitous crutches. The long lance St. George wields finds echoes in different forms in other Dali works, sometimes with butterflies attached to them, such as in the 1951 painting, “Landscape with Horseman and Gala.”
The tall lance appears in Dali’s oil, “Poetry of America” (1943); multiple times in “Discovery of American by Christopher Columbus” (1959-1960); and even somewhat inexplicably – or shall we say surrealistically – in “Enchanted Beach with Three Fluid Graces” of 1938. Likewise, the general theme of a warrior-horseman, equipped with a spear or lance, can be found in a good number of Dali paintings, including “Equestrian Parade” (1942), purchased at auction several years ago by the Hollywood actor, Leonardo Dicaprio.
Even in his last years, Dali reinterpreted the St. George and the Dragon theme in “Warrior Mounted on an Elephant Overpowering a Cello,” painted in 1983. It was one of the artist’s final expressions on canvas. This time the conquering hero is astride a pachyderm, while the object of his valiant assault is – astonishingly – a musical instrument!
Strewn with bones and a skull at the bottom of this 1947 print version of the St. George and the Dragon theme, it has proven to be one of Dali’s best in this medium, exuding an intensity, refinement of draftsmanship, and feeling of power that radiate the victorious nature of St. George as he rode to hero status – according perfectly with Dali’s own quest to be the best artist of his time. And like St. George, Dali tasted the sweet nectar of victory.
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‘Alice’s Evidence’
Wood Block Print
By Paul Chimera
Dali Historian
(Mr. Chimera worked directly with Dali Museum founder Reynolds Morse, as the publicity director of the original Dali Museum when it was located in Beachwood, Ohio)
This may be the most tranquil, gentle and – thanks to the lovely red flower – the most beautiful of the prints in Dali’s “Alice in Wonderland” suite of wood block prints.
In this, the final chapter of Carroll’s iconic tale, Alice is called up as a witness during the trial (in which the Knave of Hearts is accused of stealing the Queen’s tarts). Alice accidentally knocks over the jury box with the animals inside them and the King orders the animals be placed back into their seats before the trial resumes.
The King and Queen order Alice to be gone, citing a rule that states that “All persons more than a mile high to leave the court”), but Alice disputes their judgment and refuses to leave. She argues with the King and Queen of Hearts over the ridiculous proceedings, eventually refusing to hold her tongue.
In response, the Queen shouts her familiar “Off with her head!” order, but Alice is unafraid, calling them out as just a pack of cards, just as they start to swarm over her.
Alice’s sister wakes her up for tea, brushing what turns out to be some leaves and not a shower of playing cards from Alice’s face, and Alice leaves her sister on the bank to imagine all the curious happenings for herself.
Dali, then, sort of “undoes the dream” here, showing Alice being awakened to reality. It was all just a dream, and what better context in which Salvador Dali – the most imaginative artist of his time – could unleash his creative impulses and his inimitable pen and brush!
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‘Who Stole the Tarts?’
Wood block print
By Paul Chimera
Dali Historian
(Mr. Chimera worked directly with Dali Museum founder Reynolds Morse, as the publicity director of the original Dali Museum when it was located in Beachwood, Ohio)
I always felt like I could practically taste this wood block print by Salvador Dali! The Surrealist master captures a dramatic depiction of this scene from “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,” when Alice attends a trial occasioned by the accusation that the Knave of Hearts has stolen the Queen’s tarts.
The jury consists of a disparate array of animals and other figures, including Bill the Lizard, the White Rabbit, and the King of Hearts, who serves as judge.
Dali’s imagination takes expected liberties, of course, and we see his deft portrayal of a reindeer, a unicorn, a horse and more – all sort of framing the appetite-whetting tart on a plate that occupies the center bottom of this colorful and animated print.
Dali never strayed far from the Freudian symbolism and personal mythology that informed so much of his surrealist work, and here, in “Whole Stole the Tarts?”, we see several ink wells and pens – symbolic of his relationship with his father, whose notary office Dali represented by the ink well/fountain pen pairing. Like many youths, Dali felt an ambivalence toward his father – often showing the two hand in hand, walking in the far distance, in miniature detail, in many of Dali’s works. Yet also showing him as an imposing if not foreboding figure at times.
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‘The Lobster Quadrille’
Wood Block Print
By Paul Chimera
Dali Historian
(Mr. Chimera worked directly with Dali Museum founder Reynolds Morse, as the publicity director of the original Dali Museum when it was located in Beachwood, Ohio)
Figures cavort and seem to form large arches in this lively print, where, in Carroll’s story, the Mock Turtle and the Gryphon dance the Lobster Quadrille – a square dance for four couples. Interestingly, a quadrille is also a card game played by four persons, and cards, of course, figure integrally into the “Alice in Wonderland” tale.
The Lobster Quadrille was the Mock Turtle’s song and dance, taught to him by his teacher, none other than Tortoise, and it’s decidedly similar to the popular story of The Spider and the Fly.
Dali depicts what seems to be a double-headed Gryphon – traditionally thought to be an especially powerful and majestic creature – in the center of the work, and adds characteristic suggestions of Dali’s own obsessions: a king with crown and scepter (autobiographical?); and four cypress trees – oft-seen landscape fixtures around the artist’s native Catalonia.
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‘The Mock Turtle’s Story’
Wood Block Print
By Paul Chimera
Dali Historian
(Mr. Chimera worked directly with Dali Museum founder Reynolds Morse, as the publicity director of the original Dali Museum when it was located in Beachwood, Ohio)
At this point in the adventure, the Duchess is brought to the croquet ground at Alice’s request. She ruminates on finding morals in everything around her. The Queen of Hearts dismisses her on the threat of execution – she was constantly bellowing, “Off with their head!” – and she introduces Alice to the Gryphon, who takes her to the Mock Turtle.
The turtle is very sad, we’re told, albeit in Dali’s depiction in this wood block print, he looks a bit more menacing than sad, it seems to me. Ah, but wait, the story suggests that, while the Mock Turtle is sad, he also has no sorrow.
Lewis Carroll was such a surrealist!
In any case, the Mock Turtle tries to tell his story about how he used to be a real turtle in school, which the Gryphon interrupts so they can play a game.
The story also tells us that the turtle had lived in the sea, and we can see how Dali shows us his watery former self, so to speak, through the cool blue sea-like area at the bottom of the print. But now we find a distinct and rather bold figure of the Mock Turtle, above which Dali includes a rather large, energetic butterfly – again representing transformation, the metaphorical thread that runs throughout “Alice in Wonderland.”
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‘The Queen’s Croquet Ground’
Wood Block Print
By Paul Chimera
Dali Historian
(Mr. Chimera worked directly with Dali Museum founder Reynolds Morse, as the publicity director of the original Dali Museum when it was located in Beachwood, Ohio.
This is one of the most popular wood cut prints in the “Alice in Wonderland” suite, with Dali seeming to really shine when he depicts playing cards. No wager here on why that is, but he also did a terrific job in creating playing card prints as a separate print commission, as well as creating images for several decks of playing cards that remain popular among collectors. His playing cards china plates were also a popular bit of Daliana.
In “The Queen’s Croquet Ground,” Dali depicts the soldiers who, in the story, were used as arches in the croquet game that is being played by the Queen and her subjects – a game that quickly descends into chaos (and wasn’t exactly pleasant for the live flamingos who were used as mallets!). Hedgehogs doubled as croquet balls.
A kind of sorcerer is seen in the background, against a backdrop of mountainous terrain, and upon a landscape scored with deep perspective lines – an oft-seen, depth perception motif in many of Dali’s works. The tall sentry-like figures behind the two playing cards look almost fish-like, with what appears to be scales covering their towering forms.
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‘A Mad Tea Party’
Wood Block Print
By Paul Chimera
Dali Historian
(Mr. Chimera worked directly with Dali Museum founder Reynolds Morse, as the publicity director of the original Dali Museum when it was located in Beachwood, Ohio.
There should be no doubt that “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and Salvador Dali had a kind of surrealistically symbiotic relationship. Lewis Carroll’s imagery was so congruent with Dali’s artistic sensibilities and surrealist approach to telling a pictorial story; their pairing was a natural.
Here, in “A Mad Tea Party,” Alice became a guest at the “mad” party, along with the March Hare, the Hatter, and the Dormouse. A table was set out under a tree, and Dali expresses that table by supplanting it with a large, table-like iconic melting clock. Time, of course, played a central role both in Carroll’s story and in Dali’s life and work.
The Hatter revealed that they would have tea all day because time had punished him by eternally standing still at 6 p.m. – tea time. A popular interpretation of Dali’s “stilled” or wilted timepieces in his most famous painting, “The Persistence of Memory,” is that Dali believed that time seemed to stand still in his native Port Lligat, Spain, where things remained largely unchanged through the generations.
Dali’s butterflies again make an appearance, symbolizing transformation – a continuing theme in “Wonderland” – while a key at lower left is a classic Freudian symbol of both unlocking mystery and, on a sexual level, penetration. The penetrating story of Alice and her confounding adventure continues, as – after the “stupidest” tea party she had ever been to – she heads for a beautiful garden.
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Wood Block Print
By Paul Chimera
Dali Historian
(Mr. Chimera worked directly with Dali Museum founder Reynolds Morse, as the publicity director of the original Dali Museum when it was located in Beachwood, Ohio.
Inside the Duchess’s house, Alice witnesses more surrealism unfolding, more bizarre happenings: in this case, the Duchess’s cook throwing dishes menacingly, and making a soup that has far too much pepper. Of course, it causes Alice, the Duchess, and her baby to sneeze violently (while the cook and grinning Cheshire Cat escape such a fate).
When the Duchess hands the baby to Alice, she is incredibly surprised, and for good reason: the baby has turned into…wait for it….a pig! And Dali renders quite a hulk of a pig in this colorful print – almost hippo-like in size and body-type.
The Cheshire Cat appears in a tree (in the story, not in Dali’s print), directing Alice to the March Hare’s house. The Cheshire Cat disappears, but his grin remains behind to float on its own in the air, prompting Alice to remark that she has often seen a cat without a grin, but never a grin without a cat.
Dali includes butterflies in the upper portion of the print to again represent change, as the baby quite logically becomes a pig when you consider that the nonsensical illogic of Carroll’s story is, well, perfectly logical!
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Wood Block Print
By Paul Chimera
Dali Historian
(Mr. Chimera worked directly with Dali Museum founder Reynolds Morse, as the publicity director of the original Dali Museum when it was located in Beachwood, Ohio.
And if you go chasing rabbits
And you know you’re going to fall
Tell them a hookah-smoking caterpillar
Has given you the call
Well, Dali’s depiction of the caterpillar in Lewis Carroll’s classic tale of nonsense literature is devoid of any hookah or any smoke…but it’s on fire in its bold, dazzling, and irresistible presence in this fabulous print.
In the story, Alice comes upon a mushroom (interesting that its cap isn’t far from the shape of a Dali soft watch! Sang Jefferson Airplane: And you had some kind of mushroom and your mind is moving slow). And seated upon it is a caterpillar puffing away on a hookah. The slithery insect questions Alice, who admits to her current identity crisis, compounded by her inability to remember a poem (all these things Jefferson Airplane sang about – things that feed your head – can make one easily forget a poetic line or two!).
Before crawling away, the caterpillar informs Alice of something by which the above song lyrics were inspired: one side of the mushroom will make her taller, the other side will make her shorter. So Alice breaks off two pieces of the mushroom, and sure enough one side causes her to shrink smaller than ever, while the other makes her neck grow so high into the trees that a pigeon mistakes her for a snake (which happens to be a classic Freudian phallic symbol. I’m just sayin’). Eventually Alice returns to “normal.”
In Dali’s print, he depicts the caterpillar in both its normal size and shape, but then symbolizes its special powers through the huge, almost monster-like presence that lends such vitality and fantasy to this very popular print from the 13-piece suite.
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Wood Block Print
By Paul Chimera
Dali Historian
(Mr. Chimera worked directly with Dali Museum founder Reynolds Morse, as the publicity director of the original Dali Museum when it was located in Beachwood, Ohio.
It’s so appropriately dream-like that, in “The Rabbit Sends in a Little Bill,” the omnipresent rope-skipping figure of Alice is seen in tiny detail, at the lower right of the print, engulfed in the shadow and sheer size of the house. There’s a dream, or even slight nightmarish, aura created in such a seemingly marginal detail.
As Alice’s adventure continues, the white rabbit appears again in search of the Duchess’s gloves and fan. Mistaking her for his maidservant, Mary Ann, he orders Alice to go into the house and retrieve them.
But, one more time, guess what: Alice starts growing again (Go ask Alice, when she’s ten feet tall). And Dali captures this quite dramatically and surrealistically. Even the caterpillar on the ladder seems to suggest a kind of neck tie (at least to this blogger), as if the house has become something of a garment with which the now towering Alice is dressed! It would all make sense, in such a nonsensical tale – and Dali must have loved that!
Outside, our hapless main character hears the voices of animals that have gathered in amazement as they look at her giant arm. The crowd hurls pebbles at her, which turn into tasty little cakes. Alice eats them, and they reduce her again in size. (One pill makes you larger, and one pill makes you small.)
This print is often cited by many as a favorite. It exudes a certain simplicity, yet a surrealistic quality as well, and is done in that very special style that makes Dali’s technique so well appreciated. He seemed especially adept at rendering the images of butterflies, two of which appear here – classic symbols of metamorphosis, change, and paradox.
It is at this point in her adventure that our dear Alice spots a rather interesting hookah-smoking caterpillar, as her trippy adventures in Wonderland roll on.
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