Comisar: Juan Bordes
Production: CAAM- Calcografía Nacional
Date: 15th May -13th September 2009
CAAM – Los Balcones, 11

For the exhibition's curator, the prints of Francisco de Goya hold "condemnations of the horrors of both sides of war"; a fact which, in his opinion, "makes their message a universal one".

Goya's prints are the precursors of the photographic vision, bringing forward the language of the moment using visual resources that announce the aesthetic of photojournalism and which suppose a "point of inflection" on war, the images of which had only previously been used to praise war rather than to denounce its horrors. With its appearance in the second half of the 19th century, photography became another mechanism for visual narration, for reflecting upon the life of the period and, and such, became a critical tool against the different armed conflicts in which it became involved, offering up first-hand evidence of the irrationality of war and of its consequences.

Departing from the original core of that show, the CAAM invited its curator, Juan Bordes, to embark upon a wider project in which Goya's prints are displayed side by side with the photographs of artists such as Eugene Smith, Centelles, Cartier-Bresson, John Burke, George N. Barnard, Robert Capa or Gervasio Sánchez. These are just some of the photographers whose images are mixed in with Goya's prints, keeping their spirit of condemnation alive and leading the viewer through the rawness shared by all conflicts, whether they be the Crimean War, Cuba, the Second World War, South Africa or Vietnam.

Goya, cronista de todas las guerras (Goya, Chronicler of All Wars) includes the series "Los Desastres" (The Disasters) - taken from the first edition produced by the Spanish Academy of Fine Arts in 1863 - and two of the original plates, along with an audiovisual summary of the history of war photography and a selection of images from the photographic archive of the Spanish Civil War, preserved by the Biblioteca Nacional (Spanish National Library).The exhibition also features prints of "Las ruinas de Zaragoza" (The Ruins of Saragossa) made by Fernando Bambrila and Juan Gálvez, who, along with Goya, accepted the invitation of General Palafox to contemplate the consequences of the First Siege of Saragossa, perpetrated by French troops upon the capital city of Aragon.

Photos of war

THE DISASTERS OF WAR
On the cover of one of the three complete copies of this series printed by Goya himself, reads the title "Fatales consecuencias de la sangrienta guerra en España con Bonaparte Y otros caprichos enfáticos en 85 estampas. Inventadas, dibujadas y grabadas por el pintor original D. Francisco de Goya y Lucientes" (Fatal Consequences of the Bloody War in Spain with Bonaparte and Other Emphatic Caprices in 85 prints. Invented, drawn and etched by the original painter Don Francisco de Goya y Lucientes). In Madrid, such is the title of this one and only first copy, which was set and bound for Agustín Ceán Bermúdez, who subsequently corrected the inscriptions and this cover. The title of "Los Desastres de la Guerra", by which these etchings are known, appeared in the first edition by the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de-San Fernando, produced at the Calcografía Nacional in 1863.
During the War of Independence (1808-1814), the city of Saragossa suffered two sieges at the hands of the French army. At the end of the first, which lasted from 14th June to 14th August 1808, the city's defender, General Palafox, invited several artists to visit the devastation caused by the bombardment upon the main monuments and buildings of the city, "in order to paint their glory from life". Among these artists were Francisco de Goya, Fernando Brambila y Juan Calvez. These last two drew those ruins from life in October 1808, and upon their return to Madrid began to etch the copper plates for twelve large-format views, depicting the damage to the city's most important buildings. Afterwards, they would make twelve more, medium-sized plates of different ruins and another twelve smaller ones of the most important figures from the defending forces. The images were published in 1812 in Cádiz, where the Academia de Bellas Artes took on the publishing projects, and the prints appeared in instalments, each of which included an image of each of the three sizes.
However, Goya did not begin work on the first preparatory drawings until a year after the visit, with the intention of etching a set of prints on the theme of the horrors of war. In 1810 he began work on the first of the 82 plates that comprise the series. But his dedication to this project had to be shared with other works, with the last matrices being finished around 1820. During the process, he made several test proofs - found today in collections all over the world - and apparently only printed three complete volumes with the definitive finished plates, leaving the publishing project abandoned. That is until 1862, when the Academia de San Fernando acquired 80 of these matrices, using them to make the first edition in 1863. In 1870, the two missing matrices (n° 81 and 82) were donated by Paul Lefort, but were not included in successive editions until 1963, when an entirely new print was made.
The series of Los Desastres can be split into three parts. In the first, Goya illustrates stories of real-life events, those with reliable proof. But even in these prints he attempts to transcend the concrete facts, generalising them in order to extract a critical conscience. In the second part he reinterprets his experiences of war on the streets of Madrid, with the horrors of el año del hambre (year of hunger) (1811), describing the presence of the war through its consequences on daily life. Lastly, some prints are dedicated in symbolic codes, naming them caprichos enfáticos (emphatic caprices). In these images, Goya exposes the political consequences of the period following the war, with his critique of the establishment of absolutism and the break-up of constitutional ideals. He denounces the uselessness of sacrifice, originating from a war in which the ultraconservatives appealed to the patriotism of the people, and the upper classes did not hesitate to use the blood of the innocent to affirm their privileges.
The correlative numbering of the plates was adjusted to the order that the proofs occupied in the volume that Goya gave to Ceán Bermúdez (today held in the British Museum). However, in order for that numbering to correspond with the conceptual division of the three parts mentioned before, the relocation of two prints would be necessary. The initial group is delimited by prints no. 2 and no. 47, apart from no. 40 which, due to its allegorical character, we could place in the third group. The group of the scenes of starvation is formed of those between the numbers 48 and 65. And the emphatic caprices consist of prints no. 66 to 82, and among which we can also include numbers 1 and 40.
This work by Goya has few precedents in the history of art. Before, war had only been used as a theme by artists commissioned by the governing classes, who of course did not welcome critiques of their actions on the battlefield. But even when the artist chose these themes privately, he always did so for visual reasons, being drawn to solving a problem of opposing forces and the clash of passions. In a rare catalogue of artists' models, entitled Scelta ai Bataglie invéntate, e disetjnate da Francesco Antonio Simonini, e da altri celebri Autori per uso de Pittorí, e Dilettanti (Bologna, 1760), which brings together thirty-three prints of battle scenes, this idea is made clear.
War was rarely chosen as the object of condemnation, and the two most recent exceptions may have been the French engraver Jacques Callot (1592-1635) and the German Hans Ulrich Franck (1605-1675). Callot made two small series, named Les Petites Mise'res - printed in 1632 and not published until 1636 - and another, slightly larger, one entitled Les Miséres et Malheurs de la guerre (1633). These are eighteen etchings on the French occupation of Lorena in 1630, during the course of the Thirty Years War (1618-1648), which show the cruelties of the army and the subsequent revenge of the civilians over the soldiers, in addition to scenes of torture and execution, pillaging and rape. However, the reduced format of the plates and the large number of miniscule figures that appear in each one minimize the visual effect of the cruelty of the actions taking place. In 1656, the German artist Ulrich Franck made a series of twenty-eight etchings, also inspired by the Thirty Years War, but this time only featuring violent scenes in which the soldiers attack unarmed civilians, omitting the scenes of the reprisals that came later.

Interpreting The Disasters
Selection

By way of a very synthetic explanation of each of Los Desastres, below is given a summary of the interpretations of the principal researchers who have studied this particular work by Goya, and whose bibliographic references are included at the end. The most extensive individual analysis of the prints in this series, however, along with a discussion about the test proofs and their critical fortune, has been made by José Manuel Matilla in El libro de los Desastres de La Guerra Francisco de Goya. Volumen II (Madrid, 2000).

1.Sad presentiments of what must come to pass
Etching, drypoint, burin and burnisher

An avalanche of monsters and chimeras - representing the French invasion - lie in wait in the darkness for a miserable figure, representing the Spanish people. Only the people foresee and guess what is to come, whilst the politicians remain blind to the danger (Mélida, 1863). This image, despite being the introduction to the series, was not among the first made by Goya (Dogson, 1933). Its iconography is a secularization of the religious subject of "Christ Praying in the Garden" (Sedlmayr, 1948). Because of the relationship between this print and number 69, it has been placed in the context of the "emphatic caprices" (Lafuente Ferrari, 1952).

2. With or without reason
Etching, Etching with aquatint, drypoint, burin and burnisher

The hand-to-hand struggle of the two civilians facing the rifles of the soldiers, blinded by "the thirst for vengeance that will not let them see the danger. This image is the synthesis of the uprising" (Mélida, 1863). Goya highlights that the Spanish are neither soldiers nor carry guns (Lafuente, 1952). The title expresses the doubts that Goya harbours over the popular uprising, in which the most reactionary sectors of Spanish society found a cause (Dérozier, 1976).
3. The same. Etching, aquatint, drypoint, burin and burnisher
This title, and the previous one from which it continues, are not particularly patriotic (Mélida, 1963). In response to the previous scene, now it is the ferocity of the popular guerrilla which surprises the soldiers felled in an ambush or surprised in their sleep (Lecaldano, 1975). The caricatured treatment of the faces of the aggressors reveals Goya's judgment in the face of the patriotic uprising (Dérozier, 1976).

4. The women give courage
Etching, aquatint, drypoint, burin and burnisher

Goya highlights the participation of the women in the 2nd May uprising (Mélida, 1863). Several accounts refer to the fury with which the women intervened in the events in the Puerta del Sol square, in Madrid, where some are said to have thrown themselves under the hooves of the horses to make the soldiers fall off, allowing the men to finish them off Lecaldano, 1975). In The Disasters, the few positive roles are attributed to women, as heroines or as allegories for the Truth (Hofmann, 1980).

5.And are like wild beasts
Etching, Burnished aquatint and drypoint

Showing the fury with which the women fight, even when carrying their young on their back (Brunet, 1865). Goya uses the woman to accentuate the popular spontaneity of the actions (Lafuente, 1946). Of special note are the rudimentary weapons that the women in the scene are using, reinforcing the impression of their courage (Lecaldano, 1975). Maternity as justification for feminine fury is, to a certain degree, a degradation of the bravery of the female guerrilla fighter, highlighting the animal instinct of maternity, which acts only when the woman's child is threatened (Volland, 1993).

7. What courage!
Etching, aquatint, drypoint, burin and burnisher

A woman lights a cannon's fuse whilst all the artillerymen lay dead at her feet. This is Agustina, the heroine of the siege of Saragossa (Piot, 1842). The young woman is portrayed almost with her back to the viewer, thus impersonalizing her heroism . Goya dedicates this, the only heroic print of all The Disasters, to women (Lafuente, 1952). The admiration for this character from the popular history of war shows the sentimental ambivalence of Goya the liberal and defender of the illustrated spirit, who recognises the heroism and dignity of the people (Dérozier, 1876).

11. Nor these
Etching, aquatint, drypoint and burin

Another scene of a woman's resistance, defending herself from the brutality of the invader with the most elemental of means. Goya brought to life the horrific stories that were being passed on by word of mouth (Lafuente, 1952). The woman with her head thrown back represents the extremes of physical pain and responds to the concept of pathos found in the art of the end of the 18th century. The dramatic architecture is especially noteworthy (Hofmann, 1980).

16.They avail themselves
Etching, aquatint, drypoint, burin and burnisher

Soldiers stripping bare the corpses on the battlefield (Piot, 1842). The shameful act is made even more repulsive by the cold negligence with which the soldiers handle the inert bodies (Lecaldano, 1975). There are both similitudes and differences to be found between this print and that by Callot entitled "The Revenge of the Peasants" (Hohl, 1980). The noble way in which the artist treats the naked bodies intentionally recalls the body of Christ in the traditional representations of the Pietà (Pérez-Sánchez, 1982).

37. This is worse
Etching, aquatint and drypoint
This imposing print brings before us the refinement of human cruelty, able to extend beyond death. A test proof, preserved in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, contains a signed note by Goya: "el de Chinchón", alluding to a true story that the artist knew of  (Lafuente, 1952). The slaughter in the small town of Chinchón in December 1808 as a reprisal for the death of two French soldiers may have been made referred to by Camilo, Goya's younger brother, who was a priest in the town (Sayre, 1974). Goya often unites the man and the tree in order to convert this union into a "sobrefigura" (Hofmann, 1980).

39. Great deeds! Against the dead!
Etching, aquatint and drypoint

Terrible and cowardly mutilations. We do not know whether it is the French or the Spanish who have dismembered one of the corpses in this way, but by looking at the features - the wide cheekbones and the moustache - we can suppose that the atrocity has been committed by Spanish guerrillas (Lafuente, 1952). Another tree is degraded and turned into the display case of a killing, with the members of men who shortly before were living, thinking beings, hung up like so much gruesome scrap (Lecaldano, 1975). The print is an emblem of the irrational cruelty that underlies the whole series (Tomlinson, 1989).

56.To the cemetery
Etching, aquatint and drypoint

Many of the people of Madrid died from starvation in the streets. This print shows bodies being collected from the streets of the capital, to be taken to the cemetery (Brunet, 1865). As well as literally describing what is taking place, the title of this piece makes reference to Álvarez de Castro, the heroic defender of Gerona, who said exactly these words ("Al cementario") when one of his officers asked him where they should fall back to in case the city's defences fell (Lafuente, 1952). Whilst the prints in the first part represent the victims of the battles and struggles, here we see the bodies of a population that has exhausted all of its resistance (Lecaldano, 1975).

62. The deathbeds
Etching, aquatint, drypoint, burin and burnisher

This striking and tragic scene evokes those moments of silence in which, without saying a word, one says it all (Beruete, 1918). The technique used for this print, one of the most impressive in the series, coincides with that of Rembrandt (Lafuente, 1952). In the process of moving from the preparatory drawing to the plate, a more abstract treating of death can be appreciated (Sayre, 1974). The gaunt simplicity shows through in the corpses, wrapped in shrouds, their only coffin (Lecaldano, 1975). Historical notes and literary references at the time of the events surrounding the famine speak of the absolute saturation of the hospitals of Madrid (Vega, 1992).

69.We shall see
Etching, aquatint, burnished, aquatint and drypoint

This print can be seen as a profession of the author's faith (Mélida, 1863). However, other interpretations state that it communicates no more than a mood or the expression of scepticism towards war and even towards peace. All is vanity before death. In the collection of proofs that are preserved in the Biblioteca Nacional, this print appears with a fingerprint of the artist (Beruete, 1918). This print is a disheartened judgment of the uselessness of the sacrifices of war (Lecaldano, 1975). Though very dark in the final version, at the rear on the left-hand side the viewer can distinguish the scales of justice, menaced by the dark figures emerging from the right-hand side of the image. The corpse also holds in its hand a crown (Glendinning, 1977).

72.The consequences
Etching

The recumbent figure here represents the impoverished Spanish nation (Mélida, 1863). Having sided against the general good brings as a result the arrival of vampires that suck the blood from the victims (Beruete, 1918). Night birds symbolizing injustice become enraged, sucking the blood from the exhausted body of a country torn apart by war, internal divisions and persecution (Lafuente, 1952). The icon is related to The Incubus (The Nightmare) by Henry Fuseli (Bozal,1983). Vampires and the verb to suck are used as symbols of corruption and theft. Like Saturn, Fernando VII and his agents of the church were devouring the country by means of repression, abusive taxes and inept politics (Roche, 1988).

75.Troupe of charlatans
Etching, aquatint, drypoint and burin

Once again Goya ridicules the friars, though with a logical fear of the re-established Inquisition (Mélida, 1863). The bird figure in the foreground wears ambiguous dress. It could be a friar, magistrate, scholar or soldier, and in the preparatory drawing appears with a sabre (Lafuente, 1952). Goya criticises here ideologists and politicians who pontificate with grand words but without any belief in what they are saying (Lecaldano, 1975). The print may be related to cardinal Luis María de Borbón, supporter of the liberals, who went to receive Fernando VII with the order to not recognise him as king if he did not swear to the Constitution, but who went back on his word when he kissed the hand that the king presented before him (Vega, 1992).