Lecture: Goya's Theater of Cruelty
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St. John's College 60 College Ave., Annapolis, Maryland 21401
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Black and white reproduction of Francisco Goya's "What a Great Deed!: With Corpses!" from The Disasters of War, 1811-12
On the occasion of the Elizabeth Myers Mitchell Art Museum's exhibition, Theatre of Turmoil, we are honored to welcome Goya scholar Janis Tomlinson to present an original lecture on the artwork of Francisco Goya, understood in relationship to playwright Antonin Artaud's Theatre of Cruelty.
Tomlinson herself offers this description of her lecture: "Throughout the war, Goya imagined and etched the sacrifices, suffering, and brutality of war in a series eventually titled Los Desastres de la Guerra (The Disasters of War). He never returned to images of the orderly world he had once painted, as extremes of fear, wrath, pain and vengeance pervade subsequent works, including The Second of May 1808 and The Third of May 1808, the etchings Los Disparates (Follies), and his late “Black” paintings.
These works beg questions to be considered here: Who was Goya’s intended audience? Do any precedents in earlier art help us interpret this work? Are parallels to be found between Antonin Artaud’s break from traditions in theater help us understand Goya’s revolutionary art?"
Janis Tomlinson is an internationally known authority on the art of Francisco Goya, and recipient of the Order of Isabel la Católica for her contribution to knowledge about the history and culture of Spain.