Feb. 24, 2010 - Issue #749: Basia Bulat

Double bill

Goya's Disasters of War leaves an impression greater than Los Caprichos' technical presentation

Goya's Disasters of War series is a powerful collection of images that leaves an overwhelming impression. The images, like modern photojournalism, are a collection of atrocities from the Spanish Peninsular War, and they wrap around the walls of the gallery in two rows. It takes a fair chunk of time to look through them all and to absorb the impact of their depressing content.

The exhibition at the AGA has taken pains to point out the political content of the works, and plenty of it is plainly visible even without extensive knowledge of early 19th century Spain. Most obvious is the emphasis on women, children and the elderly that not only makes clear the fact that atrocities are being depicted, but begins Goya's construction of a liberal heroic Spanish patriotism. The prints present a narrative about the common people of Spain resisting French soldiers in moments of great heroism and martyrdom. But the unreason of war, the relentless and apparently purposeless advance of the soldiers is impossible to stop, and the heroic citizens are inevitably dismembered and abandoned on the fields of war. If they escape, their only refuge is with caricatures of the reactionary priesthood which move in after the war and seize political power.

Goya's depiction of the priesthood and the post-war conservative monarchy in Spain have much in common with his other work on display here, Los Caprichos. A copy of this earlier book is encased in glass in the middle of the room, open to its most famous image, "The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters." Unlike The Disasters, Caprichos was published during Goya's lifetime—the plates and proofs of The Disasters were only shown to close friends, and Goya left no instruction or information about them beyond captions and a few words; they weren't seen by the public until their 1863 publishing as a book.

Unfortunately, Los Caprichos seems to be only presented here for historical educational value. The AGA has attempted to let us see a different side of the works than with The Disasters of War, displaying a bound copy opposite a computer terminal allowing viewers to page through the images. It's a good idea poorly executed: trying to preserve one aspect of the viewing experience, the presentation gives up on others. Not only are the images different on a screen than on a page, but the presentation has technical flaws. Only one or two people may view the work at a time, a serious issue in the busy, newly opened gallery, and the software displaying the book is flawed and difficult to use: the touch-screen is unresponsive, forcing you to push the pages around painstakingly slowly or use buttons that require almost as much concentration, as just tapping them with a fingertip isn't enough. The controls to return to the first or last page are worse, a collection of tiny symbols in the bottom right of the screen which are smaller than most people's fingertips, making them difficult to accurately press. I observed and assisted several strangers having difficulty moving through the images during my visit.

A better viewing experience can be had on any other computer connected to the internet—since the AGA prefers to show the public-domain images only to paying customers, you can find the complete collection linked at the bottom of Los Caprichos' Wikipedia entry. The Disasters of War is worth a look, but Los Caprichos certainly shouldn't be receiving equal billing in this form. V

Until Sun, May 30
Francisco Goya: The Disasters of War and Los Caprichos
Art Gallery of Alberta (2 Sir Winston Churchill Square)

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