Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1955-04-03
News of Artists and Exhibitions
BY FLORENCE BERGMAN

SPANS art history, It has
been said. is embodied In great,
isolated individuals, as con-
trasted with other countries
schools" Such a generaliza-
ton is not accurate, of course.
But 1t is true that when one
thinks Of Spain In art, one
thinks first of Ell Greco of the
God-intoxicated saints" Of
Velasquez. the mirror Of
SPANS court, Of the mystic
Baroque Zurbaran, and Of
Goya, of the turbulent revolu-
tionary era.
The special loan exhibition
Of Goya's drawings and prints,
which opened yesterday at the
National Gallery of Art. to re-
main through April "a, reveals
the most ideational aspects OF
his art. Visitors to this
exhibition can refresh their
memories of his painting by
looking at the gallery's sew
eral fine portraitS.)
First in the U. S.
The loan exhibition has ia
original drawings; 80 lent by
the Prado. is by the Lazaro
Galdiano Museum, both In
Madrid. Since no work of art
was allowed to leave Spain for
showing abroad until recently,
this collection is the first to be
seen in the United States. 1t
was made possible through the
cooperation of the Spanish
Foreign Office, the Ministry of
Education, the Direction Gen.
eral de Relaciones Culturales,
and the Spanish Ambassador.
Senior Don Jose M. de Areilza
(who opened the show yester-
day.. At the end Of the en-
gagement here, it will be sent
on a tour of American mu-
seums under auspices of the
S Smithsonian Institutions
Travelling Exhibition Service.
Besides the drawings, the
Galdiano Museum also lent Is
rare prints; and the Spanish
loans are augmented by 80
outstanding etchings by Goya.
from the National Gallery's
Rosenwald Collection. The ex-
hibition represents all phases
of Goya's graphic art, from the
pen drawing Prince Balthasar
Carlos" a copy of velasquez's
portrait, done before 1778. to
the Blind Beggar," a late
brush drawing of the 1820s.
Goyo's Strong, Original Mind
Goya's long life of eight
decades encompassed the Pc
Rod of the great struggle for
intellectual and political lib
erty in Western Europe and
America. Goya was blessed with
prodigious physical strength,
sand also a strong, original
mind. De Beruete. an author
ity on the master, was i'm
pressed by the fact that when
he was in good health. spirits
and circumstances, he painted;
but when i'll or troubled, he
turned to graphic arts, and
etched the gamut Of his tur-
bulent thoughts: Disillusion-
ment, cynicism, indignation
and violent bitterness.
Goya habitually made prints
in series. His first group tpre-
sumably commissioner COM
prised II plates after works by
Velasquez. Original drawings
for these are in the exhibition.
His first great original series
was 1.-THE Caprices," 80 items,
done during his 47th to 52nd
years. Preparatory drawings
and etchings here include such
masterpieces as Here Comes
the Bogeyman" and Love and
Death" These are social and
symbolical satire.
The Napoleonic conquest of
Spain. abdication of Charles
w and the ensuing horrors
and miseries were reflected in
Goya's series of 80 plates done
between 1808-15, called THE
Disasters of War;" represented
in the show with such charac-
teristic examples as "A Fight
in the Streets" and mot Even
at This Price"
SPANS national sport, the
bull fight. was the theme OF
Goya's next series, etchings
and drawings from which pre-
sent a stark picture of cruelty
and suffering.
Most Fascinating
The final series, "The
Follies," done in Goya's old age
(67 to 74) is perhaps the most
battling and fascinating to the
true Goya aficionado. They
rank high in esthetic quality.
and obviously mean much. al
though Goya insisted they
meant nothing at all. The best
interpretations I have seen OF
them, were those by an English
writer. Blamire Young, in a
book THE Proverbs of Goya,"
published about 30 years ago.
For example. one in the exhibi-
ton entitled Feminine Folly"
he interprets as a symbol Of
unhappy marriage. the 6
figures (taken clockwise) being
the same woman at different
stages and ages. At the left she
is a gay young girl, picking
up her task in life with happy
insouciance," and as the years
pass, she becomes wistful, re-
signed, overburdened. cynical.
and finally broken and hope
less. as she lays down her
burden.
Goya was greatly gifted, with