Picasso's Guernica
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PICASSO'S GUERNICA Images within Images by MELVIN E. BECRAFT i Excerpts from Picasso's Guernica by Frank D. Russell, Montclair, New Jersey: Allanheld, Osmun & Co., Publishers, Inc., 1980, are reprinted with permission. Professor Russell's book is an in-depth study into Guernica and contains a treasure-trove of iconographical detail. Also, the notes of the book contain an invaluable critique of earlier Guernica writings. He also cites valuable insightful information shared in conversation with other Picasso scholars. Professor Russell's book develops two main iconographic theses concerning Guernica: the crucifixion and the bullfight. The book's large explorations in iconography and iconology, and the Epilogue (in part about Picasso in the creative process being able to sift through all art which has gone before him) become 'must' reading for anyone interested in the artist and his Guernica. "Dali's Harlequin is reproduced with permission, © SPADEM, Paris/VAGA, New York, 1985. Details (tracings) from Guernica and Guernica are reproduced with permission, © SPADEM, Paris/VAGA, New York, 1985." Excerpts from Egyptian Religion, Apollo, Guitar, Tower of Babel, and Vishnu are reprinted with permission of the Encyclopedia Americana, Copyright 1961 by Grolier, Inc. Excerpt "On his chest is a tuft of curly hair" is reproduced from Larousse World Mythology, ed. Pierre Grimal, © 1965 Ange Gillon, Hollier-Larousse, Moreau et Lie (Libraire Larousse) and the Hamlyn Publishing Group Limited. Published in the U.S.A. by Chartwell Books, Inc. Excerpt from Puppets and the Puppet Stage by Cyril W. Beaumont, London: Studio Ltd., NY: Studio Publications, Inc., 1938, Reprinted with permission of Macmillan Publishing Company. Excerpts from Marionettes, Masks, and Shadows by Louise Dunn and Winifred Mills. Copyright 1927 by Doubleday & Company, Inc. Reprinted by permission of the publisher. SECOND EDITION (contains revisions) All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. Original copyrights © 1981, 1982 and 1983. Second Edition copyright © 1986. ISBN 0-9615981-0-7 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 85-73564 (This year 2000 free digital version is based on the Second Edition © 1986 plus later copyrighted addenda published by Melvin Becraft, California.) CONTENTS Introduction Remarks by Professor Martin Ries…………………v Prologue………………………………………………………………..vii Picasso’s Guernica Images within Images Part I………………1 Picasso’s Guernica Images within Images Part II…………….37 Epilogue………………………………………………………………..61 Notes……………………………………………………………………68 Bibliography…………………………….……………………………..90 INTRODUCTION Art theory as a scholarly concept is a very recent phenomenon. Plato based his discussions of the arts simply on the concept of mimesis, or imitation, and he never expounded a developed theory of the visual arts. Yet he admired Egyptian art with all its anthropomorphic deities, chimerical inventions, and symbols. The elusiveness of ancient thought on the visual arts is compounded by the fact that classical culture did not have a term for art (the Greeks supposedly had a word for everything, but the closest to our concept is the Greek techne, denoting all kinds of skills and crafts, even practical knowledge). Renaissance artists, philosophers, humanists, and poets, all spoke of scienza della pittura, specific problems of painting, such as linear and atmospheric perspective, the mathematical proportions of the figure, and of composition, etc. But they did not deal with the other arts, and omitted many aspects of image making that now are part and parcel of art theory. Bent, broken, and refracted light have long revealed the immensity of the heavens as well as the structures of life, through ingeniously curved lenses (when the telescope and microscope were invented they were distrusted for distorting visual reality). In the twentieth century, subconscious urgings and Freudian psychoanalysis, illusions, accidents, fantasy, chance and abstraction, are all tools for discovering new processes of perception. Not only in the arts, but in many fields, from engineering to medicine, the surprising, the abnormal, and the unusual, lead to key ideas, new information, and facts for understanding the norm. Now we expect (and get) abnormal perceptions to give new data and insight for understanding correct perception. v Mel Becraft is not a trained art historian and his methodology of the uses of art criticism and art history is far from didactic. But he, like so many individuals, is fascinated by one of the most profound and important paintings of all time; and he has chosen not to accept blindly and passively what has already been written about Guernica (his bibliography proves he has done his homework) but to search the mural for new images and new meanings. He has found much. Art historians and scholars may not agree or even approve of some of the things he says–—but out of the mouths of mavericks come perceptions that may prod others into new insights, new discoveries. Vive le Becraft! Martin Ries Long Island University vi PROLOGUE On April 26, 1937, twenty-eight months and some days before World War II began, Guernica, a Basque town in Spain, was bombed. At the time of the air raid, Spain was in the midst of a civil war. Hitler and Mussolini were aiding the Rebels or insurgents led by General Franco. The following are quotations from pages one and four of The New York Times on April 28, 1937: HISTORIC BASQUE TOWN WIPED OUT Rebel Fliers Machine-Gun Civilians. Waves of German-Type Planes Fling Thousands of Bombs and Incendiary Projectiles on Guernica. Bilboa, Spain, April 27. Fire was completing today the destruction of Guernica, ancient town of the Basques and center of their cultural tradition. Virtually the whole of Guernica was soon in flames. An exception was the historic Casa de Juntas with its rich archives of the Basque people, where the ancient Basque Parliament used to sit. The famous Oak of Guernica, a dried old stump of 600 years with young new shoots of this century, was also untouched. Here the Kings of Spain used to take an oath to respect the democratic rights of Vizcaya and in return received a promise of allegiance as suzerains with the democratic title of Senor de Vizcaya, not Rey de Vizcaya. [Lord, not King, of the province.] The object of the bombardment, seemingly, was demoralization of the civil population and destruction vii of the cradle of the Basque race. This appreciation is borne out by the facts, beginning with the day when the deed was done. Yesterday was the customary Monday market day in Guernica for the surrounding countryside. It is impossible to state the total number of victims. In a street leading down the hill from the Casa de Juntas, the writer saw a place where fifty persons, almost all women and children, were said to have been trapped under a mass of burning wreckage. Copyright ©1937 by The New York Times Company. Reprinted by permission. In Paris, Picasso read, saw pictures, and heard similar reports. In several weeks of intense work Picasso created Guernica. We see a torn horse in the center of the painting. Later, after much searching and reflection, we realize what we should have guessed at first: the sacred Oak of Guernica plays a very important part in Picasso's great masterpiece. As Dante is to poetry, as Einstein is to physics, so Picasso is to painting. Guernica is a testament to Picasso's genius. viii PICASSO’S GUERNICA Images within Images PART 1 In the center, Picasso's painting has a literary framework containing planks from Nietzsche's madman in The Gay Science1, and from Nietzsche's title The Birth of Tragedy from the Spirit of Music 2 and the Perseus, Pegasus, and Medusa myths. The center consists of the jagged light, the woman with lamp, the horse, and though some parts are off- center, the dismembered body at bottom. Built onto and around this center are great tragedies from literature, religion, and mythology, which have been interwoven with the Guernica tragedy. The painting can be unraveled. Be forewarned that during our trip we will come across a baldheaded Medusa, a square halo and caricatures of Hitler, Mussolini, Goering, and Franco. Also, you will see men in women's roles and vice versa 3. Thus, keep your mind open so you may enjoy this sojourn. Pegasus 4 is the winged horse in Guernica One wing is just above the base of the tail. The second wing is more developed and extends from the neck halfway down to the tiny flower or plant. At its bottom, the wing loops to the left. The horse has both male and female symbols: the "wound" and the "spear" (Bibl. No. 56, pp. 343-344). Thus, the horse plays both male and female roles. Perseus had a sword and wore a cap which made him invisible when he cut off the head of Medusa 5. Medusa had snakes on her head where we have hair. Perseus had to look at Medusa's reflection in his shield, because anyone who looked directly at the head of Medusa turned to stone. Perseus put Medusa's severed head in a container, because it still had the power to turn to stone anyone who looked directly at it 6. 1 The bottom crossbar lamp is behind the horse's neck. The short sword ends at the woman's head. The long sword is brought upon mountains. Now we will see these details in Guernica. The light above with the jaggedness around the edge is the shield of Perseus. He is invisible. The lamp becomes half the crossbar to Perseus's sword, which extends 2 from the lamp, up the long arm, to the woman's eye. The shawl is the border or edge. (See Bibl. No. 42, p. 105. Technically, the shawl is a "window curtain.") Perseus holds the handle of the sword.