The Sleep of Reason: Goya's Influence in Spanish America
Saturday, November 28, 2009 - Sunday, March 7, 2010
Francisco Goya y Lucientes (Fuente de Todos [Aragon], 1746 – Bordeaux, 1828) is often considered the first artist of the modern age. This is due not to his chronological place, which precedes numerous developments still tied to tradition, but rather to the fiercely individual character of his art.
The radical nature and historical implications of Goya’s work are most evident in his prints. After a few etchings that reproduce earlier Spanish paintings, Goya turned to extraordinarily personal imagery in remarkably sustained series. His fantastical Caprichos were inspired by popular prints and sayings that had never reached a sophisticated level––a prototype for the exchange between “low” and “high” forms
that marks the modern age. In the Tauromaquia, the history of Spain’s national sport became a pretext for subverting traditional formal values, setting a direction for artists from Manet on through Picasso. Refusing to celebrate or idealize, the Disasters of War put historical events in a merciless light that predicts the twentieth century’s experience and recording of human suffering. The late Proverbios privilege the imagination over what is objective or even recognizable, anticipating later movements like Symbolism and Surrealism. Extensive, and issued in large number from the mid‐nineteenth century onward, Goya’s etchings resonate with artists, with anyone who prizes individuality and who questions authority, to our day.
This exhibition presents most of The Blanton’s prints by Goya. It includes representative images from each of the major series and features some choice impressions that underscore the pure aesthetic interest of his printmaking. In the display case, the exhibition offers a group of earlier works to suggest that, however revolutionary Goya’s language, it was not without certain artistic precedents. At the same time, the continued resonance of his work can be seen in The Blanton’s exhibition, The Sleep of Reason: Goya’s Influence in Spanish America.
The radical nature and historical implications of Goya’s work are most evident in his prints. After a few etchings that reproduce earlier Spanish paintings, Goya turned to extraordinarily personal imagery in remarkably sustained series. His fantastical Caprichos were inspired by popular prints and sayings that had never reached a sophisticated level––a prototype for the exchange between “low” and “high” forms
that marks the modern age. In the Tauromaquia, the history of Spain’s national sport became a pretext for subverting traditional formal values, setting a direction for artists from Manet on through Picasso. Refusing to celebrate or idealize, the Disasters of War put historical events in a merciless light that predicts the twentieth century’s experience and recording of human suffering. The late Proverbios privilege the imagination over what is objective or even recognizable, anticipating later movements like Symbolism and Surrealism. Extensive, and issued in large number from the mid‐nineteenth century onward, Goya’s etchings resonate with artists, with anyone who prizes individuality and who questions authority, to our day.
This exhibition presents most of The Blanton’s prints by Goya. It includes representative images from each of the major series and features some choice impressions that underscore the pure aesthetic interest of his printmaking. In the display case, the exhibition offers a group of earlier works to suggest that, however revolutionary Goya’s language, it was not without certain artistic precedents. At the same time, the continued resonance of his work can be seen in The Blanton’s exhibition, The Sleep of Reason: Goya’s Influence in Spanish America.