(Image: Isiah 42:18, from the Aliyah Suite, by Salvador Dali)Aliyah Suite, by Salvador Dali
The Winnipeg Art Gallery,
To March 19
In 1967, a year before the state of Israel prepared to celebrate its 20 th anniversary, noted Spanish artist Salvador Dali was commissioned to create a series of lithograph prints celebrating this historic event.
Dali may have seemed an odd choice at first, famous as he was for his bizarre, anti-art approach that saw him arrive at one of his shows in a limousine full of cauliflower, and paint such images as melting clocks and flaming giraffes.
Yet, in the decades that followed his rise to prominence with the Dada movement, Dali's work frequently explored religious, literary and historical themes.
The creation of the modern state of Israel, which he depicts in this show, was the result of a post-Holocaust movement of Jews from around the world, back to the Middle East. It also displaced large numbers of the existing Arab population, often against their will, as the Jewish population in the region grew from 8 per cent in 1900 to 75 per cent today.
Conflicts that flared up during the re-settlement have continued, and while there have been recent signs of hope, such as the pullout of Israeli troops and settlers from the Gaza Strip in September, 2005, the mood in modern Israel is one of uneasy co-existence at best, and ethnic and religious violence at worst.
Dali's exhibit openly celebrates the creation of the state of Israel, a theme that was put forward a decade and a half before him by the Jewish-Canadian writer A.M. Klein. In his remarkable novel The Second Scroll , Klein compares the modern re-settlement of Israel with the biblical Exodus story, in which the early Jewish people, under divine protection, escape the bondage of Pharaoh and return to the Promised Land.
As Klein did, then, Dali gained inspiration for Aliyah Suite from biblical and historical sources, depicting the return to Israel as divinely led. Many of the work's titles come directly from Hebrew scripture, and the word "Aliyah" translates as "ascention to Zion," which is the biblical name for the modern capital of Jerusalem.
It's the potential for controversy, then, at least in part, that makes this show so interesting—Dali's unapologetic celebration of the foundation of Israel. Whether he actually believed this himself, though, is not clear, since it's been suggested that he was in fact an anti-Semite.
Critics and historians have noted that in some works (such as the one depicting Rachael weeping for her murdered children, an allusion to both a biblical story and the modern Holocaust) Dali seems to almost overplay the emotion, as if he only half-sympathized. Others, however, argue that his work was truly sympathetic, and consistent with historical traditions.
Nevertheless, the work itself, from a limited edition series of lithograph prints, is fascinating—this is, after all, one of the 20th century's most revered artists.
Using watercolours and inks, Dali created a semi-abstract depiction of various scenes from the recent history of Israel.
Psalm 23:4, ("Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death") , shows huddled crowds of refugees, pressing towards Zion beneath a sinister cloud. As A.M. Klein did before him, Dali views the smoke from the concentration camp furnaces as a new "pillar of fire", which in the biblical story, led the Jews through the desert.
It's a powerful metaphor, suggesting that the victims of the Holocaust served as spiritual "guides" on the modern return to Israel.
Another work depicts the massive construction projects that helped Israel to modernize. An irrigation pipe is shown being installed, while an angel hovers overhead protectively. The work's title is, The Land at the Start of Jewish Settlement: "I will make the wilderness a pool of water," (Isiah 41: 18) , suggesting that the modernization of Israel fulfilled ancient prophesies.
In The Second Scroll, A.M. Klein concludes repeatedly that the only way for the new Israel to achieve divine sanction was to create a nation in which the three "Great Faiths"—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—could live and worship together, free of hatred and warfare.
And judged by that standard, it's been a failure so far.
But with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on his deathbed, and the peace process in doubt, Klein's standard seems particularly worth considering, and perhaps now more than ever.
