Guernica Reproduction Covered at UN

Guernica
Well,well,well....
This shows that even the UN thinks that Bush and Blair
are going to start a war in Iraq.
There is no one iota of doubt in my mind.

<sigh>, me thinks too!

Yep, Dubya has his "mind" made up.

Hey!...couldn't we just cover up the eyes and mouths, of would be censors?
Just a thought

And I would add a picture is worth a thousand words.

Roger: You're probably right. Bertrand Russell said it that way - far be it from me to change it.

Joanne D - Your description of this is wonderful. I've only seen reproductions in books. I envy anyone who has seen the actual work. I suppose it does make sense that anyone discussing a real war would not want such a graphic and emotional rendering of its reality.

When I saw Guernica at the 1980 Picasso Retrospective all five floors where devoted to Picasso. I was transformed and educated by that show. Picasso's transition through time and his evolutionary changes in style and form were more than seemed possible for one to accomplish in one man's life. I would predict that in the future people will accuse Picasso of not painting, drawing, or sculpting all that he did just as we now try to debunk the Bard saying no one person could possibly have written about all that is experienced in his plays and prose. Well I think that one person can because they are just ore connected to the cosmic unconscious than most of us.

Welcome to A2k Trailortrash, any extra $50 bills to through around?

hmmm. "fractured plains" now that I like.

Ha ha in the introductory thread I admitted to being spelling challenged. Lysdexia isn't the only one with lysdexia.
A plain old plane is plainly enough.

Buzz

So Guernica is too offensive to look at!??? What next, ban All Quiet On the Western Front! Aren't you even allowed to THINK that the idea of war is obscene?
I can't believe this. Just speachless!

Michael Moore's "stupid white guys" just don't run our corporations, they also run our government.

We are in the middle of an administration which cares nothing about the First Amendment rights granted to all Americans by the U.S. Constitution.

Human and civil rights be damned now in the name of "homeland security." This presidency is the worst of my lifetime. It creates a climate in which the draping of a work by Picasso is only the tip of the Dubya iceberg.

Those of us who believe the arts must continue to thrive in our land must be constantly vigilant during the remainder of this freedom-depriving administration. Those who have posted to this thread give me hope that perhaps many other citizens are catching on to Dubya -- and they don't like him!

I certainly don't

I first saw Guernica in the MOMA. It is difficult to describe the effect this work has on an individual. It is so compelling and forceful. Later in 1998, I saw it again in Madrid. This time, however, I could not get close to it as I did in NY. There was a cord and demarcation line that kept the viewer 20 feet from the painting. In addition, just in case, there were 4 soldiers armed with submachine guns at the corners. I will never forget it. I was sitting on a small bench looking at Picasso's moving depiction of war's carnage and standing at the rope were approximately 20 small school children, giggling and speaking Spanish. Their teacher was talking to them as they pointed to the painting and asked questions. The scene lasted no more than 5 minutes, but all the time the children stood there, the guards never showed a hint of emotion. It was as if the kids weren't there. An elderly man told me later that the guards were there to protect the painting from political extremists. It is ironic that in NY at the UN we have our own political extemists. But the guards have changed sides.

Apparently it was decided that the work was to be covered by UN officials, not US. So the comparison between Guernica and the statue covered by Ashcroft is not valid. The US government had nothing to do with the decision. It was the timeframe that was coincidental, not the acts themselves.

What DOES trouble me though, is a general tenor of censorship in art. I remember when I was a kid, and used to wander through hours through the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I could never understand why, in the exquisite ancient Greek statues, the genitalia of the men were covered by fig leaves.

Seems that drapery has become the 21st centuries' fig leaves!

Hey, while we're at it, let's cover up the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, 'cause it might be UPSETTING to view those during the current crisis.

Same thing with baby dolls, Phoenix. Aiming toward a sexless society, I reckon.

guernica
Williamhenry3, your words eloquently express my thoughts. I see Bush as a grave menace to America's legitimate ideals. By the way, have we forgotten the censorship efforts of our latest hero, Guiliani?

Thanks, Wizard, for leading me to this thread and thank you Buzzcook, for an interesting but disheartening suject.

Even though the UN was responsible for covering the Guernica, it surely must reflect their knowledge of this government's opposition to the arts, especially to anything that is in any way controversial or symbolically opposed to our rush to war. And it is just possible that John Ashcroft whispered in someone's ear at the UN.

This is the first time in my life that I have found the prospect of censorship so frighteningly real and cavalierly imposed.

If anyone truly believes there was no behind-the-scenes pressure put on those in charge of the U.N., there's a bird in Australia that will be happy to do a good imitation.

Imitation of what LW?

Diane says:



I have my art and books hidden, they will never find them!