Goya's Disasters of War Exhibit at Cedar Rapids Museum of Art

by Dena Tollefson
http://www.denatollefson.com/

I attended a really neat lecture on Goya's Disasters of War copper plate etching prints at the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art  this past Thursday.
The speaker was Phil Lasansky, son of artist Mauricio Lasansky, who with his wife Lori, own over 300 Goya prints. It was interesting to hear his insight contrasting his father's style, whose small  print editions allow focus on individual work with hand coloring or other special details,  with  Goya's, where multiple identical prints were made with each larger print run, intending to bring the work to the masses.

Francisco Goya was a court painter during the war and these prints were a record of his reaction to the horrors of the Peninsula War between France and Spain in the years 1807-1814- he kept this graphic and grisly body of work quiet- perhaps to not conflict with his role as court painter to royalty. He made this war record of 80 different images with copper plates- 7 print editions were made after his death. The Lasanskys own several sets, prints on loan to the museum are a complete 7th edition print (second best print - after the 1st edition- the original copper plates were faced with steel in a process to make the plates better able to withstand the rigors of the printing press).

 I was very impressed with Phil's in-depth working knowledge of printmaking process and his focus and dedication to collecting.  Click here to learn more about Goya's Disasters of War etchings on loan to the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art- the exhibit runs until December 12th, 2010.