Goya's War: Los Desastres de la Guerra (The Disasters of War), installation view at Krannert Art Museum, 2014.
Francisco de Goya y Lucientes (1746–1828) created eighty etchings that comprise Los Desastres de la Guerra (The Disasters of War) in reaction to the Napoleonic invasion of Spain and the political turmoil that followed.
The exhibition reconsiders the artist’s endeavor within its historical context by presenting the etchings in five groups—Carnage, Atrocity, Martyrdom, Famine, and Emphatic Caprices—that reveal Goya’s stylistic evolution over the four years (1810–14) during which he etched these plates. Viewers become newly aware of Goya’s accomplishment as they imagine him obsessively recording the accounts he heard, or inventing nightmares of atrocity that remain, unfortunately, relevant today.
The original Spanish-language captions for these powerful images are translated into English and further explained in a comprehensive illustrated catalogue that explores the series as the intersection of three narratives—of a war that devastated a nation; of the changing world of the artist; and, finally, of the extreme and often futile sacrifices of war, which Goya conveyed with unprecedented intensity. The installation at Krannert Art Museum also features printmaking materials and a comparison with a bound, later edition of the series from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
This exhibition is a collaboration of the Pomona College Museum of Art and the University Museums of the University of Delaware. It is curated by Janis Tomlinson, director, University Museums, and circulated by the Pomona College Museum of Art. Robert G. La France provided local curatorial guidance and coordinated additional content at Krannert Art Museum.
Sponsored in part by Fox Development Corporation, Fred and Donna Giertz, and the Friends of Krannert Art Museum
