[DOC] Goya by Robert Hughes at Arts-Photography

Review

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. TOTALLY AMAZINGBy MariaHonestly. totally amazing biography of Spanish painter Francisco de Goya y Lucientes. I was looking for a good one and found this one. It sounded good. so VERY RELUCTANTLY and skeptically I purchased it. Mr. Hugues did a fantastic job putting this book together to tell us about Spains most famous painter. I was raised in Spain and I am familiar with its people. its customs. different places. etcetera. In addition. having lived there many years. I was privileged to go to the Prado museum several times and had viewed all his work housed at The Prado. The reason I reluctantly acquired this particular book of Mr. Hughes and why I was so skeptical to purchase was because hes Australian. My own reasoning went something like this: Come on. an Australian is going to tell me about the life and times of Goya? Youve got to be kidding! I mean. I was expecting to get some IMPORTANT Spanish writer to tell me about him; not some foreigner. I was also expecting to read Goyas biography in Spanish.although my knowledge of both. English and Spanish is equally good. But. oh. what the heck. I went ahead and purchase the book and started reading it and soon I was completely mesmerized and amazed at the work of Mr. Hughes. I am not sure how to praise him enough for this incredible biography. It is extremely well researched and he seems to have a vast and wide knowledge of the life and times of Goya; life in Spain. well known places and the culture of its people. Most importantly. I feel that Mr. Hughes has captured the essence of who Goya was. how he felt. and how he was treated in Spain. in spite of the fact that Goya was the best painter in the land. I was overjoyed to read the well-researched descriptions and interpretations of Goyas works. This is the way to view a painters artistic realizations. I knew I liked the Caprichos and the Disasters of War; buy truly. unless youre an art historian or expert. you often cant understand or interpret his images. (If someone could just do that with Baudelaires Fleurs du Mal) and trying to get into the heads of geniuses to figure out what they meant to convey. its often a very tall order. It was very helpful to me to understand who he was or might be depicting on an image and what he meant by it. This is a very long biography. probably because it includes so many images of the painters works. but. by all means. not the first one I read thats so long. I purchased "The First Tycoon" (the biography of Cornelius VanderBuilt) and though my death would come before I ever finished reading that book. although I must say it was excellent as well. I loved Mr. Hughes book so much. I even purchased a second copy to gift to a friend. letting him know that this was going to be a total surprise and that he would never read a better bio of Goya. or would want to. I have given it five stars because it deserves it. A tremendous book in its content. including all the history and the works and life of the artist. My sincere congratulations to Mr.Hughes. Its gripping. exciting. extremely well written and I loved every minute of it.6 of 7 people found the following review helpful. An epic treatment of an artist who lived in difficult times and opened the way to modernismBy Robert J. CrawfordGoya is one of the greatest artists who ever lived: a court artist for kings. he also observed not only the common people. but the state of his mind. in the process creating a series of masterpieces that entered completely new territories. I have been fascinated by his work for my entire life. and only now have I found a book that explores and interprets what he did in a way that really speaks to me. Perhaps only Hughes could have done it - he was obsessed with Goya as well.He started off as a pretty conventional artist. as an apprentice. married correctly for court connections. and worked. This was in the late Baroque period. and Goya became a popular artist for "cartoons" to be displayed in parlors of the rich - images of robberies. idyllic scenes. and popular stories. Spain at the time was an extremely backward country. mired in feudal traditions that were blocking the modernization of its economy and society. It didnt help that a reformist king. Carlos 3. had allowed his do-nothing son Carlos 4 to succeed him.At the time. Velasquez and others were experimenting with realistic character portraiture. which Goya mastered better than just about anyone. He quickly found aristocratic patrons. particularly acolytes of the Spanish Enlightenment. or Ilustracioacute;n. They saw his talent and engaged him so that he could paint for them rather than for the cash-strapped church or the cartoons that bored him after 10 years of work. The result are portraits of such exceptional discernment and intensity that they alone would have won him a place in art history. He earned a place as the artist of the Royal Court of the last Bourbons; both Carloses loved his work.At the same time. he experimented with a number of media. particularly lithography. Laboring apparently in solitude. he produced a series. Los Caprichos. that can only be described as surrealistic allegories. There are donkeys playing the piano. witches. and owls springing from a sleeping mans head. like a precursor of Dali. They can be interpreted in a myriad of ways. from an exploration of his own unconscious to an ironic reflection of the soul of his time - with the revived Inquisition. the fear of change. and simple human doubt at the decadent state of a kingdom unable to reform itself. Though no one wanted them. Goya had meant them to be popular. It was these images that got me started on Goya. and Hughes interprets them without jargon or the imposition of hyper-intellectual theories. For me. it struck a perfect balance of art criticism and biography - in detailed historical context.From this stable position. everything was thrown into chaos by the Invasion of Napoleons forces. resulting in the first guerilla war. i.e. a "small" war. that depended more on rebel skirmishes than the broad infantry engagements that suited the French forces. Once again. Goya observed the carnage and suffering. this time in one of the most vicious wars of the century. He expressed his feelings in a series of paintings and etchings that are at once realistic and as if from a nightmare. again approaching surrealism in their psychological agony. He was. according to Hughes. the first person to accurately portray the true horrors of war. initiating a genre of historical realism along with allegory. These are the images of corpses in trees. men before firing squads. and children weeping alongside dead adults. Once again. this work was under-appreciated. only resurfacing 50 years after he was dead and forgotten.Of particular interest are the murals that he did in his home. the Black Paintings that were apparently only meant for himself. These are some of the most disturbing and reviled images that have ever appeared. including the Floating Fates (a mystery because there are 4 and not the traditional 3) and Saturn Eating his Children. which art history books describe as the most hated painting of all time. We have no idea what it means. he left no indications other than the images themselves. Rediscovered later. they were painstakingly transferred to canvases for preservation. If you are ever in Madrid. you must go to the Prada to see them - there has never been any like them before or since. they evoke a mood of despair and fear that cannot be described in words.The book is beautifully produced. on glossy pages with images interspersed throughout the text; this does make the book rather heavy. which makes casual reading somewhat difficult. Of course. the format is too small for the reproductions to have a full impact. but they are necessary for the flowing narrative that Hughes offers.There are some questions I found unanswered. though of course so much is unknown about why Goya did what he did. I would have liked a clearer idea of when he was re-discovered and how he work came to be known. for example.Recommended with enthusiasm. This is one of the best art bios I have ever read.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Excellent biography of a complex and talented painter and observer of life in late 18thC and early 19thC SpainBy DordogneAn excellent lively account which flows quickly. Provides a good overview of Spain at the end of the 18thC. a country of contrasts and great inequality. Hughes covers Goyas working life of 60 odd years and the historical context of a tumultuous Spain as Goya progressed from a talented but relatively junior painter of cartoons for the Royal Tapestry factory to court painter. society portraitist and social and political observer. Hughes lively writing includes highly amusing pen pictures of several historical figures.e.g. Carlos IV. I only wished I had read it before my recent visit to the Museo del Prado