the miseries & misfortunes of war
From Patriotism to Devastation:
A 500-Year Survey of Artists' Views of Warfare
MORAGA -- Original fine art prints from the 15th through the 20th centuries explore "The Miseries and Misfortunes of War," from March 7 through April 26, at the Hearst Art Gallery of Saint Mary's College in Moraga.
The exhibition examines the artist's role as observer, promoter, protester, cynic, and romanticizer of war. The title is borrowed from the name of a group of etchings by Jacques Callot, a mid-17th century French artist, whose work brilliantly portrays the brutalities of battle. Late 18th century Spanish artist Francisco Goya is represented by two etchings from his series, "The Disasters of War," created to protest Napoleon's invasion of Spain. Among the other artists included are Lucas Cranach, Thomas Hart Benton, Winslow Homer, Käthe Kollwitz, Jose Clemente Orozco, and Diego Rivera.
In conjunction with the exhibition, the Gallery is pleased to present a public slide lecture, "The Artist at War: Prints From Four Centuries," by Karen Breuer, Associate Curator of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, on Wednesday, March 18, from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m., in the Soda Activity Center. Breuer recently organized "Thirty Five Years at Crown Point Press" and "Treasures of the Achenbach Collection," at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, where she also manages the Anderson Collection of Graphic Arts. She is the author of numerous exhibition catalogs on American and European works on paper.
The exhibition was organized by the University of Arizona Museum of Art, Tucson. Funding has been provided in part by the National Endowment for the Arts. The traveling exhibition of nearly 50 prints will be supplemented by additional art works on the theme of war from the Saint Mary's College Collection and a private Bay Area collection. Classic war films, including "All Quiet on the Western Front" and "Grand Illusion," will be shown daily in the upper gallery.
