War pigs

Etchings by Goya, that master of the human condition. "Los Desastres de la Guerra (The Disasters of War)" is a searing, haunting testament. From the opening image of a supplicant to the 80th page, "Will She Live Again?", all is harrowing. Brutality is the everyday. Attempted rape, dismemberment, corpses being stripped. A woman engaging in battle, baby under one arm. Violence: relentless and macabre. The despondency of those left. The final works are allegories: carnivorous giant bats and orating barnyard animals. It's be comical if it weren't so horrifyingly timeless.

This series was Goya's reaction to Spain's War of Independence against the French (aka Napoleon). No doubt Eddie Adams and Robert Capa were familiar with it.

Enough has been written about war, and plenty has been written about Goya. The work speaks for itself. Go.




Francisco de Goya, Los Desastres de la Guerra (The disasters of War), at Peter Blum
99 Wooster St.
212-343-0441
through Aug. 1
www.peterblumgallery.com

Images courtesy of Peter Blum Gallery, New York.