Goya's Mastery in Prints: Los Caprichos
February 14, 2008 - June 8, 2008
Francisco José de Goya
(1746-1828),
El sueño de la razon produce monstruos
(The Sleep of
Reason Produces Monsters), 1799
Plate No. 43 from Los Caprichos,
etching on paper,
Meadows Museum, SMU, Dallas, Algur H. Meadows Collection,
MM.67.06.43.
Photograph by Michael Bodycomb.
The University of Arizona Museum of Art presents
Goya's Mastery in Prints, a celebration of the graphic techniques
and visionary achievements of Spanish master Francisco de Goya y Lucientes
(1746-1828). These exhibitions present in succession the
artist's four most significant print suites -- in first-edition imprints
-- on loan from the Meadows Museum at Southern Methodist University in
Dallas, Texas.
This extraordinary cycle of exhibitions concludes with Los Caprichos
(The Caprices), the
artist's most influential undertaking in printmaking -- 80 aquatint
etchings that satirize human folly and critique elements of 18th-century
Spanish society. Goya worked on the etchings from 1797-1798 and
published them in 1799, at the age of 53.
The term "capricho" translates as whim, fantasy, or invention, and
in
calling the series "caprices," he signaled that his intention was
not simply to create images for pictorial pleasure, but to craft
wildly inventive scenes in order to make statements (sometimes
comedic, sometimes grim) with potent moral force about societal
ills.
The prints in Los Caprichos exhibit the influence of
Enlightenment ideals on Goya -- in particular, the notion that reason
should govern human thought, social behavior, and political affairs.
Individual scenes in the series comment on a range of subjects,
including the dangers of ignorance, the irrationality of superstitions,
and the frivolity of courtship customs. They criticize various
professions and institutions (including the state, the church, and the
aristocracy) and denounce certain injustices and abuses of power.
Los Caprichos established Goya as the most important printmaker
in
the
Western tradition since Rembrandt. Although a commercial failure during
the artist's lifetime, the suite's combination of social satire,
political critique, inventive imagery, and innovative graphic
techniques have had enormous influence on subsequent
generations of artists.
Download the
gallery guide for this exhibition.
(Adobe Acrobat file, may take a moment to download)
See the related exhibition, Correspondence: In Relation to Goya
for Maria Brito: Las Goyescas and Enrique Chagoya: The
Return to Goya's Caprichos.
