Earlier this summer I was reading a book of George Orwell essays titled Dickens, Dali and Others. Most American readers know Orwell for his last two books, Animal Farm and 1984, but he was also a prolific essayist. This particular volume is a collection of essays on people such as Charles Dickens, Rudyard Kipling H.G. Wells, Arthur Koestler and others.
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| Dali mural in Miami. Photo credit: Gary Firstenberg |
The essay on Dali was written in response to Dali's autobiography, titled Life. Orwell begins by sharing that the episodes Dali shares are a cross between implausible, outlandish and romanticized or perverse. Orwell then cites passages to illustrate what he means. "Dead faces, skulls, corpses of animals, occur fairly frequently in his pictures, and the ants which devoured the dying bat make countless reappearances."
This last reference is to an incident in which he found a dead bat covered with ants which he purportedly stuck in his mouth and chewed. "What Dali has done and what he has imagined is debatable, but in is his outlook, his character, the bedrock decency of a human being does not exist... Clearly such people are undesirable, and a society in which they can flourish has something wrong with it."
A little further, Orwell goes on to address an issue which I've obliquely made reference to in the past. "The defenders of Dali are claiming... [that] the artist is to be exempt from the moral laws that are binding on ordinary people. Just pronounce the word "Art," and everything is O.K. Rotting corpses with snails crawling over them are O.K.; kicking little girls in the head is O.K." This latter reference is to a story in which Dali gleefully kicked his little sister in the head when he was a boy.
A little further Orwell continues to expound on this theme. "He is a symptom of the world's illness. The important thing is not to denounce him as a cad who ought to be horsewhipped, or defend him as a genius who ought to be questioned, but to find out why he exhibits this particular set of aberrations."
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The above essay came to mind during a recent conversation with Tony Belmont, president/founder of the National Comedy Hall of Fame. For a decade Belmont managed the great entertainer/ventriloquist Señor Wences. As it turns out, Wences grew up in Spain and the two, he and Dali, went to art school together. The two became best friends.
I asked Mr. Belmont if he'd met Dali at that time and he made this comment initially. "I went on a seven-day cruise off of Spain with the two of them. Dali was like an explosion in a gumball factory. He gave me an etching as a gift after the cruise. Actually, I would have been happy with aspirin after a week with Dali!"
When I asked if he could elaborate, he shared the following story.
The evening got crazier after he sat down but I ran out of time. I liked him but thought he wasn't carrying all his groceries in one bag. I believe after being with him closely for over a week that it was 50% acting for attention, to promote his image, and the other 50% really him!
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