Surus and Dali

Dali’s elephants

Surus the war elephant, as some of you may know, belonged to a much older time frame, and its connection to the artist Salvadore Dali, who was born centuries later is quite interesting, to say the least. Some years ago, many news reports were published about the gifting of an elephant to Dali by Air India in return for the little giveaway sculpture designed by Dali. This article will touch upon that event, and also cover some antecedents, Dali’s preoccupation with elephants, and the events which followed the arrival of the baby pachyderm in Switzerland.

But before we get to the 20^th century, let us get to know the war elephant Surus with a broken tusk. He was believed to be one of the last war elephants, part of the Carthaginian general Hannibal's army. While most people believed it to be a Syrian African elephant, it may have had Indian origins. Many believed, based on the image on a coin stuck during that time, showing the likeness of an African elephant, that Surus had African origins, added to the fact that Surus meant Syrian. However, we also know that the Ptolemies had seized Indian elephants in Syria during their wars, so Surus was most likely an Indian war elephant, who found its way to Carthage, from Egypt. Anyway, as the story goes, Hannibal Barca rode on Surus, during his march to Rome around 218 B.C. His force, which marched from Spain, comprising 100,000 men and some 37-38 elephants, apparently crossed the Alps, creating quite a furor at all the mountain villages they passed.  This legendary crossing of the Alps is still hotly debated as hard evidence of it has not been forthcoming. Nevertheless, that is not our topic for the day, it is Dali.

Salvador Dali (born 1904) was a prominent Spanish surrealist painter born in Catalonia and resident of Madrid, quite popular and considered an eccentric and a dandy. Art lovers mention that he was influenced by several different artistic styles, including Metaphysics and Cubism. Dali’s developing style continued to be influenced by Picasso and Joan Miró. The biggest influence in his life was Gala, whom he met in 1929, and married in 1934. Gala was not only a great influence and his muse but also his business manager. Dali’s surrealist work could appear to be striking and bizarre for many of us, he was outlandish at times and stated once that his “love of everything that is gilded and excessive, my passion for luxury and my love of oriental clothes” to an “Arab lineage”, claiming that his ancestors were descended from the Moors.

It is said that the elephants in his works were inspired by Gian Lorenzo Bernini's sculpture based in Rome of an elephant carrying an ancient obelisk. His painting ‘Swans reflecting elephants’ from 1937 projects an intriguing picture - Here, the three swans in front of bleak, leafless trees are reflected in the lake so that the swans' necks become the elephants' trunks, the swans' bodies become the elephants' ears, and the trees become the legs of the elephants. But it was in 1946 that he pictured a few of them differently in his oil on canvas work, The Temptation of Saint Anthony. Here he stretched their legs as if on stilts, much like a giraffe, and pictured them as Space Elephants.

The Temptations painting was made when he decided to partake in a US filmmaker’s contest. The winning painting was to figure in a film taken from the story, ‘Bel Ami’ by Guy de Maupassant. While Max Ernst won the contest, Dalí did not, but his work produced a masterpiece.

Repeating the motif again in 1948, he did the sketch ‘The Elephants’ as a backdrop study for the ballet As you Like it. The collection brochure by Robert and Nicolas Descharnes explains - In the Dalian menagerie, the elephant occupies a preponderant place. For Dali, this tranquil and slow pachyderm lacked aerial grace. In just a few strokes, Dali cured this God-given weakness: what could be more elegant than co graft the legs and hooves of a giraffe onto the greatest animal on earth? His normal behavior of course was completely upset. One could easily imagine Surus, the personal elephant of Hannibal, changing into such a beast, crossing the plain of the Ampurdan to conquer the Alps in a graceful balance with his trunk pointed skywards. This is the majestic representation of the Space Elephant, crowned by an obelisk and appearing to be a twin brother of a richly armored elephant of the troupe painted by Dali in 1946 in the painting, The Temptation of Saint Anthony.

In 1973, he installed a concrete sculpture of an elephant in Gala’s castle at Pubol and in 1980 the Space elephant versions in bronze and various paintings were completed.  The elephant theme appears various times in Dalí ‘s artworks of the 40-70s, and I have tried to collate some of the images I could find. Surely there are more, these are just some examples.

In 1970, Salvatore Dali, fascinated by the Hannibal story and Surus, sketched out The Hannibal crossing. Dalí captures the entire troupe of elephants as they walk along the bank of the river below the Alpine mountains.

But his fascination with the Hannibal story started well before that and is connected to Air India. It all came together when Dali met with the Air India PR manager Jot Singh in New York. Air India wanted an exclusive gift to be designed by Dali and Dali affirmed his interest by stating that he could do a porcelain double image-based porcelain ashtray with a shell-shaped center and a serpent around the perimeter supported by two surrealist headstands--a swan on one side and elephant on the other. Incidentally, the design of the ashtray was based on a work Dali had produced in 1937, the painting called Swans Reflecting Elephants and Dali explained the ashtray design thus: “The reflection of the elephant appears to be a swan and the reflection of the swan appears to be an elephant. That is what I have done for the ashtray”.

When it came to fees, Air India stalwarts mention that Dali asked for an elephant! Why? " I wish to keep him in my olive grove and watch the patterns of shadows the moonlight makes through the twigs on his back," he is reported to have said. Gala promptly added, ‘and $10,000’. Dali provided the concept, and Jules Teissonniere decorated and finished the design, had them manufactured at Limoges in France.  Air India ordered 500 of these Elephant Swan ashtrays, for their top clients!

Now for the payment part – the elephant. Air India’s deputy commercial director, went looking to Byculla zoo for a baby elephant, only to be told that they didn’t have one to spare. She finally acquired one from the Bangalore zoo and Air India flew it to Switzerland, together with its mahout. Dali’s plan was to cross the Alps on his back, Hannibal like, but the more practical Gala put a stop to that idea, and Surus (thus named after Hannibal’s war elephant) was on a flight to Basel in Switzerland.

The next part of the story comes from the Deputy Chancellor, State of Geneva  Mr Claude Bonard, who kindly translated an old article of his for me – He narrates slightly differently, thus – Dali known for his passions and a sense of happening, wanted to repeat the feat of Hannibal who would have crossed the Alps with his army and his war elephants in 218 BC, during the second Punic war led against Rome. It was the airline Air India which, sensing a good move and having ordered ashtrays signed by Dali (pardon me!) for its first-class passengers, offered to provide the elephant to the Master.

One fine day in 1967, the owner of the Meyrin carousel, Alain Jaggi, son of the well-known sculptor Luc Jaggi, received a phone call from an Air India representative in Cointrin who asked him if he would be able to accommodate an elephant in one of the boxes at his riding school. After a few moments of hesitation, Alain Jaggi accepted. This was the start of the problems and questions... how big would the elephant be? Would there be a box high enough to house the pachyderm? How to feed and water it? And above all, what would be the reaction of the horses in the stables......

On D-Day, in front of an audience of journalists and press photographers, we were all a little worried in Meyrin when the convoy arrived in the colors of Air India from which was extracted a gigantic wooden cage carrying an elephant that arrived the day before by plane from Bangalore! Unthinkable today, given animal protection standards!!

Great was the disappointment of the Indian sponsors and the press because Salvador Dali who was to be present was conspicuous by his absence. Anyway, It was important to care for the poor elephant so that he recovered from his emotions and could be led into his box, and event which caused a general panic in the neighboring boxes where the panicked horses neighed and kicked against the doors.

Finally, a bit annoyed, the representatives of the airline took possession of their baby elephant the next day. We learned later that the poor baby elephant had continued its journey to reach Spain and (became) the property of the painter, after which Salvador Dali posed theatrically, perched on his baby elephant.

The Meyrin municipality archives provide additional tidbits, following the above - On September 20, 1967, the baby elephant, baptized Surus in homage to the bravest of Hannibal's elephants, arrived by plane in Basel, Cointrin not having a cargo line from India. In Basel, the wooden cage containing the baby elephant was loaded into a Renault Estafette van driven by Air India driver Camille Yerly, heading for Meyrin, whose carousel has been chosen as a stopover for the night. The choice of this location was made by René Hug, Air India press officer and Surus trip coordinator, on the suggestion of Frédéric Herzig, the company's station manager and mayor of Meyrin.

This "event" gave rise to a small ceremony of which we have a photo (see below) and a few lines in the Journal de Genève of September 21, 1967: "In spite of the late hour [the convoy arrived in Meyrin several hours behind the projected schedule], the directors of Air India International, i.e., MM. Eric Pereira, Director for Switzerland, Marcel Alibrandi, Sales Manager, Frédéric Herzig, Station Manager, and René Hug, Press Officer, gave a cocktail party which took place in the premises of the carousel.

After having taken a little rest, and being honored with a bundle of hay, which was offered to him, with other food, "Surus" then resumed the road, to be transported to Figueras, in Catalonia, where Salvador Dali is domiciled”. During the trip to Figueras, one can imagine the surprise of the employee of the service station where Mr. Yerly had stopped to ask for water which, to his question "is it for your dog?", was answered as - no, an elephant! The arrival of Surus in Figueras and his reception by Salvador Dali was the subject of a public demonstration on September 22, 1967.

Failing to cross the Pyrenees on his back, Dali organized a parade with the baby elephant from a hill to the town of Figueres located below, thus symbolizing the passage of the Pyrenees. Another source added - There was a special parade that was organized at the plaza and a special drink that was prepared with wine and Indian tea, and pink champagne (Dali’s favorite) was served. An Indian astrologer (perhaps a priest) was flown from Bombay to take part in the festivities.

The Castle of Púbol or Gala Dalí Castle House-Museum, the Salvador Dalí House Museum in Portlligat, and the Dalí Theater-Museum in Figueres, form the Empordà Dalinian triangle. I believe Surus lived thence at the Port lligat residence.

Tim McGirk in his book Wicked Lady thinks it was an Air India publicity stunt and mentions the event so -  Besieged by all the hustlers, Gala’s suspicion of even her friends eventually bordered on the pathological. Reynolds and Eleanor Morse happened to visit Port Lligat when Dali was doing a publicity stunt for Air India. Baby elephants (there was only one) were romping on the beach, with Dali and a dozen Hindu girls (perhaps 2 stewardesses) in sparkling saris: Gala surveyed the spectacle with the loftiness of a maharani as the Morses approached. Was it a publicity stunt? I think a few believed so, Tim included, and it seems likely (befitting both parties), reading about the receptions, the filming etc.

Surus and Dali did not, unfortunately, have a great relationship, it was mutual non-admiration from the start, as one writer qualified it. The mammal grew too large and cantankerous to be kept on the grounds and eventually Dali lost interest. Even though Dali built a concrete likeness in Emporda later, he parted ways with it in 1971, donating the elephant to the Barcelona Zoo from where it was later moved to the Valencia Zoo. The zoo it appears, renamed Surus, as Noi.

NY Times reported - It was the end of a four‐year hate affair between Salvador Dali, the surrealist painter, and an elephant named Surus, given to him for a promotion stunt that failed. They loathed each other at first sight, and ever since the two‐ton beast had been deposited in Dali's keeping, the artist has been trying to get rid of it. Now Dali has turned over Surus to officials of the Valencia Zoo in Barcelona. “Good riddance,” he said, giving the elephant an anything but loving look last week. “This thing did not fit into the garden of my Gothic castle. My wife prefers to have a pair of rhinoceroses, which are the most cosmic animals in the word.” 

Dali’s wife Gala died on 10 June 1982, aged 87. After her death, Dalí moved from Figueres to the castle in Púbol, where she was entombed, and became quite despondent. In November 1988, Dalí entered the hospital with heart issues. On the morning of 23 January 1989, he passed away at the age of 84.

Now there is always someone out there who would wonder what happened to the original Surus, the majestic single-tusked elephant who wore a red blanket with a red shield– He is mentioned as the bravest elephant in the army by Marcus Porcius Cato, the elder in his book Origines. Aimee Jean LaFon adds - A line in Pliny’s Historia Naturalis mentions Surus, stating that “Cato, in his Annals, while he [had] passed over in silence the names of the generals, [had] given that of an elephant called Surus, which fought with the greatest valour in the Carthaginian army, and had lost one of its tusks. Since Hannibal was eventually blinded in his infected eye, he rode his one-tusked elephant into battle for fifteen more years until Romans captured Surus at the battle of Zama in 202 BCE. Once captured, the Romans gave Surus an honorable discharge, and he lived out his remaining years pastured at an estate outside of Rome.

References
The Elephant of Surprise: An Appraisal of Surus the Military Elephant - Aimee Jean LaFon,
Claude Bonard: When Dali's elephant stayed in Meyrin
Surus, un éléphanteau à Meyrin (1967) - Archives de la commune de Meyrin, 2016
Of Salvador Dali, Air India and Ashtrays – Reema Gehi – Parsi Khabar
You can see the video of Dali and the Surus arrival here

Trivia

African elephants have rounded heads, while Asian elephants have a twin-domed head, which means there's a divot line running up the head? African elephants have much larger ears, shaped a little like the continent of Africa. Asian elephants’ ears are smaller and more semi-circular. The African elephant is the larger of the two elephants, with bulls growing up to 4 meters tall. By contrast, the biggest Asian males reach no more than 3.5 meters. One interesting note on elephant height – the African elephant is tallest at the shoulder, while the Asian elephant’s tallest point is its back. Both male and female African elephants can have tusks, but only male Asian elephants have larger tusks. An African elephant’s trunk has more visible rings on it, and is not as hard to the touch as the Asian elephant's trunk. The end of their trunks is also very different – the African elephant trunk has two distinct ‘fingers’ that they use to pick up and manipulate objects. The Asian elephant has only one ‘finger’ at the end of its trunk, which they compensate for by holding objects against the underside of its trunk. An African elephant’s lower lips are short and round, whereas Asian elephants have long, tapered lower lips. The African elephants’ skin is more wrinkled than the Asian elephants’ smoother skin. African forest elephants: 5 toenails on the front feet and 4 on the back feet, African bush elephants: 4 toenails on the front feet and 3 on the back feet, Asian elephants: 5 toenails on the front feet and 4 on the back feet. African elephants tend to have more ribs than the Asian species, with up to 21 pairs of ribs vs the Asian elephant's average of 20 pairs of ribs. African elephants can live up to 70 years, and Asian elephants can live up to 48 years. (Courtesy Safaris Africana)

General Motors has developed a new autonomous re-configurable system with potential military applications using its fuel cell technology – It is the Silent Utility Rover Universal Superstructure or SURUS for short. GM envisions SURUS as a system serving the soldier, not unlike Surus served Hannibal!!

Tail note

Those interested in elephants should not miss watching the lovely documentary - The elephant whisperer – an Oscar nominee. Kartiki & Priscilla Gonsalves and Garima tell you the story of Bomman and Bellie, a couple in Mudumalai, who devote their lives to caring for an orphaned baby elephant named Raghu.

 pics - thanks to Claude, Wikimedia