by d 7 Replies latest jw friends
This a famous anti war paintings of Guernica done by pablo Picasso. This is a cubism paintings of the devastion of a town called Guernica in Spain. I had some trouble posting the picture so I posted the link tell me what you think of the image.
http://page247.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/guernica_pablo_picasso1.jpg
I really like it. I never did until I watched a program about the History of Art.
The picture shows how nasty war really is.
Guernica is a painting by Pablo Picasso. It was created in response to the bombing of Guernica, Basque Country, by German and Italian warplanes at the behest of the SpanishNationalist forces, on 26 April 1937, during the Spanish Civil War. The Spanish Republican government commissioned Picasso to create a large mural for the Spanish display at the Paris International Exposition at the 1937 World's Fair in Paris
Guernica is grey, black and white, 3.5 metres (11 ft) tall and 7.8 metres (25.6 ft) wide, a mural-size canvas painted in oil. This painting can be seen in the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid. Picasso's purpose in painting it was to bring the world's attention to the bombing of the Basque town of Guernica by German bombers, who were supporting the Nationalist forces of General Franco during the Spanish Civil War. Picasso completed the painting by mid-June 1937. [ 1 ] Picasso exhibited his mural-size painting at the Spanish display at the Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne (1937) (Paris International Exposition) in the 1937 World's Fair in Paris and then at other venues around the world. The San Francisco Museum of Art (later SFMOMA) gave the work its first public, free appearance in the United States from 27 August - 19 September. The Museum of Modern Art in New York City then mounted an important Picasso exhibition on 15 November 1939 that remained on view until 7 January 1940, entitled: Picasso: 40 Years of His Art, that was organized by Alfred H. Barr (1902–1981), in collaboration with the Art Institute of Chicago. The exhibition contained 344 works, including Guernica and its studies. [ 2 ]
Guernica shows suffering people, animals, and buildings wrenched by violence and chaos.(Wikipedia not a reliable source for academics but it is useful for general information).
Interpretations of Guernica vary widely and contradict one another. This extends, for example, to the mural's two dominant elements: the bull and the horse. Art historian Patricia Failing said, "The bull and the horse are important characters in Spanish culture. Picasso himself certainly used these characters to play many different roles over time. This has made the task of interpreting the specific meaning of the bull and the horse very tough. Their relationship is a kind of ballet that was conceived in a variety of ways throughout Picasso's career."
When pressed to explain them in Guernica, Picasso said,
...this bull is a bull and this horse is a horse... If you give a meaning to certain things in my paintings it may be very true, but it is not my idea to give this meaning. What ideas and conclusions you have got I obtained too, but instinctively, unconsciously. I make the painting for the painting. I paint the objects for what they are. [ 3 ]
In "The Dream and Lie of Franco," a series of narrative sketches also created for the World's Fair, Franco is depicted as a monster that first devours his own horse and later does battle with an angry bull. Work on these illustrations began before the bombing of Guernica, and four additional panels were added, three of which relate directly to the Guernica mural.
Picasso said as he worked on the mural: "The Spanish struggle is the fight of reaction against the people, against freedom. My whole life as an artist has been nothing more than a continuous struggle against reaction and the death of art. How could anybody think for a moment that I could be in agreement with reaction and death? ... In the panel on which I am working, which I shall call Guernica, and in all my recent works of art, I clearly express my abhorrence of the military caste which has sunk Spain in an ocean of pain and death. [ 4 ]
However, according to scholar Beverly Ray [ 5 ] the following list of interpretations reflects the general consensus of historians:
In drawing attention to a number of preliminary studies, the so called primary project, [ 6 ] that show an atelier installation incorporating the central triangular shape which reappears in the final version of Guernica, Becht-Jördens and Wehmeier interpret the painting as a self-referential composition in the tradition of atelier paintings such as "Las Meninas" by Diego Velázquez . In his chef d'oevre, Picasso seems to be trying to define his role and his power as an artist in the face of political power and violence. But far from being a mere political painting, Guernica should be seen as Picasso’s comment on what art can actually contribute towards the self-assertion that liberates every human being and protects the individual against overwhelming forces such as political crime, war, and death. [ 7 ]
This painting was probably the most famous or ranked up there with Monet's Waterlilies and Van Gogh's Starry, Starry Night at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. It seemed a part of my life that would never stop. The museum emphasized that it was only holding the painting until Spain became a republic. That event seemed so far-fetched that I thought it was almost a permanent holding.
The print or post does not resemble the actual painting at all. There is such a vivid reaction to the cruelty of war in the actual painting. It grabs people right in the gut. A print is better than nothing but it falls very short with Guernica.
I never thought Mandela would walk free, that a black man would be elected President or that Guernia would leave NY for Spain. When I visit MOMA, I miss it greatly. It is part of my youth. Some paintings just grab you and take up residence in your mind. Guernica was one such painting.
I don't know how Guernica came to MoMa. I suggest that Picasso must have willed it. Being exposed to it was a very forutnate part of my life. I was able to see the Picasso Retrospective around 1980 about six times. Guernia is not a just a Picasso masterpiece. It stands alone.
My school had a copy of this on the wall by the assemby hall. I saw it every school day for 5 years. It had power even when I did not know what it was about and that is the mark of a great work of art. The elongated ghostly heads on the right hand side of the painting were spooky and unsettling.
I love this painting.
This painting speaks volumes of the horrors of war
