GUERNICA: Painting the End of the World

Pablo Picasso himself said 'Painting is not done to decorate apartments. It is an instrument of war.' Working on his masterpiece Guernica in his studio in 1937 is the very first full page archive photograph in this extraordinary blend of warning of what was to come, and the relevance of this masterpiece. Pablo Picasso had already accepted a commission to create a work for the Spanish Republican Pavilion at the Paris World Fair in 1937 when news arrived of the bombing of the German Condor Legion in the undefended Basque town of Guernica. James Attlee explores the historical and cultural context of the painting itself and the meanings that art historians, museum curators, politicians and anti-war protestors have ascribed to it. He traces its travels across Europe and the Americas from the late 1930s to its arrival in Spain in 1981 and speaks with key artists, art-world figures and cultural commentators about its all-pervasive presence today. Some of the more modern interpretations like Faith Ringgold's American People Series no. 20 Die of 1967 shows black and white well dressed professionals in a blood-spattered, open-mouthed horror of extreme violence with its central triangular section echoed in the legs of the white female character like Picasso's original outline shapes. Dozens of other colour examples from art history and Picasso's own works occupy full page plates in this beautifully designed and produced hardback with pagemarker. 248pp.