GOYA's Timeless Depiction of Warfare: Saginaw Art Museum Features Exclusive Exhibit by The Master of Modern Art

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GOYA's Timeless Depiction of Warfare:
Saginaw Art Museum Features Exclusive Exhibit by
The Master of Modern Art

By Randy Chandler
& Robert E. Martin

Artwork from Francisco Goya's "The Disasters of War"

It is difficult to come away from Francisco Goya's epic series, Los
Desastres de la guerra ( The Disasters of War) unaffected.

Displayed for a limited time at the Saginaw Art Museum through April 27th,
the complete series of etchings created by Goya in the early 19th century
depicts war and strife in all its graphic and disturbing imagery.

Since this exclusive exhibition opened on March 14th, Sheila K. Redman,
Executive Director & Chief Curator of the museum estimates slightly over
1,000 people having attended the exhibit during the first two weeks alone.

"We are extremely fortunate to have such profoundly influential and
provocative works here in Saginaw," notes Redman.

The etchings were inspired by, and are based upon the Napoleonic invasion
of Spain, a subject the artist understood intimately, making it all the
more moving.

As our own country goes to war the images take on a new poignancy - visions
of raped innocents, barbaric executions, and man's inhumanity to man are
rendered in meticulous detail, with an amazing yet disquieting detachment.

It is this imagery that unfortunately renders the etchings timeless, for
Goya could have made this series about ANY war, with the universality of
the horrors of war intact.

To better understand the art of Goya, we must first consider the artist.
For the bold technique of his paintings, the haunting satire of his
etchings, and his belief that the artist's vision is more important than
tradition, Goya is often referred to in art circles as "the first of the
moderns".

His uncompromising portrayal of his times marks the beginning of 19th
century realism.
Born Francisco Jose de Goya Lucientes on March 30 1746 in Fuendetodos,
Spain, Goya's family moved to Saragossa, where Francisco's father found
work as a gilder.

At 14, he was apprenticed to a local painter named Jose Luzan - this led to
continued art studies in Italy. Upon his return to Saragossa in 1771, he
found work painting frescoes for the local cathedral. These works
established Goya's artistic reputation.
He took a wife, the sister of another local painter, and had many children,
but only one son, Xavier-survived to adulthood.

>From 1775 to 1792, Goya painted designs for the royal tapestry factory in
Madrid. This was the most important period in his artistic development.  As
a tapestry designer, Goya did his first renderings of everyday life, which
helped him to become a keen observer of human behavior.

At the same time, Goya achieved his first popular success. He became
established as a portrait painter for the Spanish aristocracy and was
elected to the Royal Academy of San Fernando in 1780, named painter to the
king in 1786, and became a court painter in 1789.

But in 1792, a serious illness left Goya completely deaf. Isolated from
others by this handicap, he became increasingly occupied with the fantasies
and inventions of his imagination and with critical and satirical
observations of mankind.
His portraits became penetrating characterizations, revealing their
subjects as Goya viewed them. Ensconced in his world of silence, Goya spoke
with his hands in a language of meticulous detail that the eyes had yet to
see.

Goya served as director of painting at the Royal academy from 1795 to 1797
and was appointed first Spanish court painter in 1799. But during the
Napoleonic Invasion and the subsequent Spanish war of Independence, he
served as court painter to the occupying French.

In secret, hidden from his new employers, he expressed his horror of armed
conflict in the Disasters of War, a series of starkly realistic etchings
that would not be published until 1863, long after his death.

The power of this exhibit is deeply embedded within the sense that one
witnesses the ultimate expression of humanity as an act of destruction.
Unseen until 40 years after his death, critics agree that no imagery in the
history of art has chronicled the devastation of war and violence as
powerfully as The Disasters series.

Today, there are few complete sets of the original etchings, which is why
the exhibit at the Saginaw Art Museum suddenly makes the mid-Michigan area
a worldwide destination point. (Most complete Goya sets are found only in
the great European museums).

When asked how the Saginaw Art Museum was able to pull this incredible coup
of assembling the complete set of Disasters of War, Director Sheila Redman
admits that having an 'inside track' helped greatly.

Saginaw Art Museum Director Sheila Redman with two of her favorite Goya pieces

"I had formerly worked with the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation in Oklahoma City," notes Redman. "They gave us six paintings for an exhibition I had worked on prior to coming to Saginaw and at the time we were told they never gave anything out of the Texas area, because they're based in Houston."

"When I moved up here I thought of them when working with our curator, Mary Malocha, on how to bring bigger name artists that people would recognize into the Museum. She and I both thought we might as well give it a try, so this has been in the working for a few years."

"People don't realize that it takes a couple years to organize something of this scale," continues Sheila. "Some people think we organized the exhibit suddenly once war broke out in Iraq, which is not true. Given the coincidence, I think it's both timely and timeless, but definitely not contrived."

The fact that the Disasters series was created on paper also makes it
especially fragile and therefore rarely exhibited at all. When asked how
the artwork is shipped, Redman smiles and answers, "Very carefully."

"They don't use an armored truck with armed guards, but the curator must
trust the people traveling with it, because the value isn't even
estimable," relates Sheila.
"Fine art transportation is used that is much more than a couple of jocks
on a truck. The truck has environmental controls and suspension to assure a
soft ride so the artwork is not bounced up and down."

When asked her own thoughts on the significance and impact of Goya, Redman
is reflective.

"I think he was ahead of his time and one of the first to think outside the
box - a box instilled upon society at the time," she notes.

"The various Academies where he painted dealt with what society accepted
and Goya was one of the first to break away from that acceptance.  He did
not paint pretty little pictures but truth & reality."

"Aside from that, "continues Redman, "and I see from the faces of people
entering the exhibition, it's hard to portray such gruesome things
beautifully. You have to be an extremely talented artist in order to do
that. For Goya to actually create these images is like having two
dichotomous forces from nature combining, yet it doesn't make you shy away
from the reality."

Along with Durer, Rembrandt and Whistler, Goya belongs to the select group
of the world' greatest printmaking artists of all time.

The mid-Michigan area is indeed fortunate to be able to savor the beauty
and impact of this work at this point in time.

This exhibition is not to be missed.
____________________________________

Goya's 'The Disasters of War' is brought to the Saginaw Art Museum by
exclusive arrangement with the Sarah Blaffer Foundation in Houston, Texas,
Saginaw Art Museum & Mobile Medical Response.
Admission is $7.00 for adults and museum members and children under 16 are
admitted free.

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