Thursday 23 April 2020 / 2 Weeks Lock Down Extension
War: Painting Guernica
Some years back I was commissioned to paint a recreation of the famous Guernica mural by Picasso. Acrylic on supawood 83 cm x 1.9 meters.
You can see a documentation of the step by step process here:
The intention was to create something as close to the original as possible, using no projection, only traditional methods. In mapping out the cubist lines of this piece I was once again inspired by the skill of the Old Masters. I found the integrity of the cubist form and line work to truly reflect the work of a genius.
Picasso’s War: Painting Guernica
Exhibited in the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid, Guernica is regarded by critics as one of Picasso’s best known works and as one of the most moving and powerful anti-war paintings in history. The original piece which is 3.49 meters tall and 7.76 meters across portrays the suffering of people and animals wrought by violence and chaos. Picasso painted Guernica at his home in Paris in response to the bombing of Guernica, a Basque Country town in northern Spain, by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy at the request of the Spanish Nationalists.
Horrors of War
Because a majority of Guernica’s men were away, fighting on behalf of the Republicans at the time of the bombing, the town was populated mostly by women and children. These demographics are reflected in Guernica. The women and children make Guernica the image of victimisation of innocent, defenseless humanity. Women and children have often been portrayed by Picasso as the very perfection of mankind. Such an assault is, in Picasso’s view, was directed at the core of humanity.
Guernica at the United Nations
A full-size tapestry copy of Picasso’s Guernica, by Jacqueline de la Baume Dürrbach was hung at the Headquarters of the United Nations in New York City at the entrance to the Security Council room. It was displayed first from 1985 to 2009, and returned in 2015. On 5 February 2003 a large blue curtain was placed to cover this work at the UN, so that it would not be visible in the background when Colin Powell and John Negroponte gave press conferences at the United Nations. On the following day, it was claimed that the curtain was placed there at the request of television news crews, who had complained that the wild lines and screaming figures made for a bad backdrop, and that a horse’s hindquarters appeared just above the faces of any speakers. Some diplomats, however, in talks with journalists claimed that the Bush administration pressured UN officials to cover the tapestry, rather than have it in the background while Powell or other US diplomats argued for war on Iraq.
Watch this fascinating documentary on Guernica
Reflecting on some things we are facing as a species presently:
We are at war, both internally and externally.
We hide behind masks, both literal and figurative.
We fear each other and the truth.
