Essay
Mauricio Lasansky’s España (1956) is a large (80.9 x 52.7 cm) and fairly complex intaglio [1] print with strong vertical orientation. With pronounced dark hues, it depicts a figure in the center on a horse, a woman standing to its right, and an infant lying at her feet. As hinted by its title, the work references the devastation of Spain and the trauma of its people specifically under Francisco Franco’s dictatorial reign in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). In doing so, the work uses the spectral figure of “El Cid,” national hero of Spain, as a symbol of the Spanish state. At the same time, the theatrical visual and thematic similarities to the works of great Spanish artists—Pablo Picasso’s Guernica (1937) and Francisco Goya’s series The Disasters of War (1810-20)—evoke a more general commentary on the horrors of war, using universal symbols for death, grief, and terror. As shown through these historical and visual lenses, España is a powerful condemnation of the tragedy and dehumanization produced by war.
In one sense, España is a very personal reflection on the state of Spain after the tragic events of the Spanish Civil War. In 1953, Lasansky won a Guggenheim fellowship to study for one year in Spain and France (Zigrosser 12). Less than 15 years since Franco’s takeover, Spain still heavily bore the scars of bombed out cities. Overwhelmed by the destruction, Lasansky became haunted by Spain’s plight—even to the point of insomnia (8). His preoccupation was perhaps additionally fueled by the political unrest and instability mirrored in his home country, Argentina, during the 1950s under General Perón. España acts as a catharsis for his traumatic obsession.
The methods Lasansky used to create España emphasize this sense of trauma in the subject. The print was made in two layers of color—the plate was printed first in warm yellow ochre and then in a cool black on white paper (19). The slight misalignment in-between the two applications of the plate have the effect of overlapping and thickening the thin etched lines and shadows illustrating the figures. The overlapping use of aquatint [3] and etched [2] lines, particularly in the figures, creates a quality of instability and, particularly in the case of the central figure, movement. The dark color submerges most of the figures in shadows, creating a haunting, nightmarish quality to the print.
The central, dominating figure, in contrast, appears to eerily glow within. A character repeated in other Lasansky prints such as Vision (1956) and El Cid (1944), the man on horseback represents El Cid, the legendary knight who united medieval Spain (Rhodes 48). Moreover, El Cid is a national hero who symbolizes the spirit of Spain—a concept especially propagated during Franco’s reign (Fletcher 204). The rider in España has no hint of a valiant or noble carriage. Lasansky perches him awkwardly on the neck, rather than the saddle, of a proportionally much smaller horse. The pose is unnatural and disturbing—El Cid seems to be grafted into the horse’s back. His odd pose reflects the events of El Cid’s death. In one bizarre chronicle, El Cid is told in a vision that he will die within 30 days, but, because he is so beloved, God will allow him “victory in battle even after his death” (Fletcher, 198). The week before his death, El Cid forsakes food and water for embalming fluids. Upon his death, his preserved body is clothed and lashed to his warhorse, Babieca, and is taken to his final resting place. His eyes are open, “‘so that no one would take him for anything but alive’” (Fletcher 198). This morbid tale seems to be mirrored and distorted in Lasansky’s El Cid. The pale figure’s stiffness is countered with a “vibration” of movement via overlapping lines—a corpse propelled by inertia. Along with his odd posture, the rider has round, wide eyes, which stare forward at the viewer with an unsettling expression. Rather than the glorious El Cid, who marches victoriously in death, this inglorious El Cid looks battered and grotesque. Lasansky counters the image of the traditional, heroic spirit of Spain with a corrupted, defeated shell.
Lasansky further incorporates Spanish culture in España through the influence both thematically and stylistically of Spanish artists Picasso and Goya. In 1943, when he first arrived in the United States from Argentina on a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship, Lasansky devoted himself to studying the prints of old masters. As soon as Lasansky arrived in New York, he spent months systematically going through all of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection of prints (Zigrosser 6). Included in this collection were original prints by Picasso and Goya (Raynor). Picasso’s theatrical fractured forms found in Guernica (1937), whose title refers to a city bombed during the Spanish Civil War, and prints of the same era served as a means for “expressing the inexpressible”—the tragedy of war and suffering produced by it (Raynor). Although the forms in España are not as “fractured” or frantic as the ones in Guernica, the works draw upon dramatic yet enigmatic scenes to express the “inexpressive.” Goya’s Disasters of War (1810-1820) plays a more explicit part in the piece— España seems to directly lift characters and gestures from the series. In the 17th plate of Disasters, They do not agree, a horse seemingly identical to España’s stands menacingly, facing a bloody skirmish (Sánchez 103). Both have dark bodies, which emphasize the eerie skull-like whiteness of their heads. In another, This is how it happened, a white-robed friar keels over in agony, hands clasped in front of his chest, with the left hand open-palmed and the right’s fingers curled into it (120). The pale male figure in España wears a similar cowl and gesture—hands clutched in beseeching prayer. Similar to the baby in the foreground, Goya’s sprawling white corpses seem to raise their arms in to the sky. Unlike the calm child, however, Goya’s bodies seem to attempt to thrash away mortality (103). Instead, the child appears to accept death with open arms; death is welcomed in Lasansky’s dystopia. The visual similarities with Goya’s series link España’s immediate theme—the Spanish Civil War—to wars of the past. As in Guernica and Disasters of War, España represents a universal message of the dehumanization of violence.
Rather than looking at España as simply specific to Spain, Lasansky uses symbols of death and grief to put forward a powerful condemnation of all wars. Connotations of death and disease dominate the picture—the prominent dark colors, the horse’s skull-like head, the infant lying tranquilly in front of a grief-stricken mother wearing a veil, and the look of derangement of the horse-rider are powerful features of the print. The “rider” floats like a spectre on the horse, hanging over the dying infant. He evokes the traditional representation of “death on his horse” in reference to the Biblical tale of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse. His gesture of prayer and his cowl suggest a religious figure but his look of madness incites horror. Next to him, the female figure grieves over her infant. This pairing of young mother and infant has similarities with iconic imagery of the Madonna and infant. Her bowed head over her child renders a Pieta-esque scene, but, at the same time, her immediate removal from the foreground creates a boundary, a tragic separation between mother and child. The infant’s eyes are closed in serenity—only death appears to offer peace in this terrifying setting. On the one hand, España is a print depicting Spain after the Spanish Civil War in the form of El Cid. On the other, through more universal imagery of a grieving mother and her dying child, the piece uses the events to develop a powerful critique against all wars.
-H.L.
Definitions of Printmaking Terms
1. Intaglio: The artist creates an image “…from lines manually incised or chemically etched into a metal plate” which is then inked and printed in a press. Techniques within the intaglio processes include etching and aquatint (Heckes 121).
2. Etching: One of the major methods of intaglio printing, “lines are ‘bitten’ (etched) into the plate by acid, rather than manually cut with a tool, as in engraving” (Heckes 121).
3. Aquatint: Another process that uses acid in combination with resin particles. “Whereas etching is used primarily for linear work, aquatint is used to create areas of tone” (Heckes 121).
Sources
Fletcher, Richard. The Quest for El Cid. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1990.
Print.
Heckes, Frank I. “Glossary of Technical Terms” Reason and Folly: The Prints
of Francisco Goya. Melbourne, Australia: National Gallery of Victoria, 1998. 120-3. Print.
Pérez Sánchez, Alfonso E. and Julián Gallego. Goya: The Complete Etchings
and Lithographs. New York: Prestel, 1995. Print.
Raynor, Vivien. “Lasansky's Printmaking Virtuosity on Display in Purchase.”
The New York Times. Web. 18 Dec. 1988.
Rhodes, Stephen. “Themes and Images in Mauricio Lasansky’s Prints.”
Lasansky: Printmaker. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1975. Print.
Zigrosser, Carl. Mauricio Lasansky. New York: Thistle Press, 1960. Print.
Biography
Mauricio Lasansky was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1914. Both his father and uncle worked as engravers—an influence evident in his early mastery of and love for printmaking (Fern 13). After graduating from art school, Lasansky went on to teach and direct the Free Fine Arts School in Cordoba in his early 20s. Despite his impressive niche in the Argentine art world, Lasansky felt isolated from more experimental work and a larger audience (13). Upon the recommendation of a director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Lasansky won a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1943 to study printmaking in New York. When he arrived, Lasansky immersed himself in both studying collections of prints and new techniques and experimentation in printmaking. He spent months systematically going through all of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection of prints—which numbered over 150,000 at the time (Zigrosser 6). Included in this collection were old masters as well as original prints by Picasso and Goya (Raynor). To grow more technically, Lasansky joined a workshop run by artist Stanley William Hayter in New York called Atélier 17. It boasted such luminaries as Jackson Pollock, Adolph Gottlieb, Pablo Picasso, and Joan Miró (Raynor). The workshop focused particularly on discovering new technical and aesthetic possibilities for intaglio printmaking (Fern 15). Lasansky would go on to apply what he learned and discovered at Atélier 17 to teaching and starting up printmaking workshops in Iowa. Soon after gaining U.S. citizenship in 1952, Lasansky became a Professor of Art at University of Iowa, Iowa City (16). He is most well known for his “Nazi Drawings” series of 1966, which illustrate “the unleashing of bestiality in Germany” (Raynor). In general, Lasansky is known for his large, complex intaglio prints that involve a variety of techniques, colors, and plates (17). Lasansky is recognized for playing a pivotal role in cementing the importance and relevance of the print in the United States (18).
-H.L.
Sources
Fern, Alan. “The Prints of Mauricio Lasansky.” Lasansky: Printmaker. Iowa
City: University of Iowa Press, 1975. 12-18. Print.
Raynor, Vivien. “Lasansky's Printmaking Virtuosity on Display in Purchase.”
The New York Times. Web. 18 Dec. 1988.
Zigrosser, Carl. Mauricio Lasansky. New York: Thistle Press, 1960. Print.
