Description

Paperback. 4to. (28 x 24 cm). In English and Turkish. 389 p., color and b/w ills. Goya, witness of his time. Engravings and paintings.= Goya, zamaninin tanigi. Gravürler ve resimler. [Exhibition catalogue]. Edited by Begüm Akkoyunlu Ersöz, Tania Bahar. Francisco de Goya (1746-1828), known as one of the most unique artists of European painting and a pioneer of modern painting, was introduced to the Turkish audience for the first time with four series of engravings, along with a selection of oil paintings, at the Pera Museum in 2012. Curated by Marisa Oropesa, the exhibition consisted of works from Spain and Italy's leading museums and private collections. As one of the best narrators of darkness, the exhibition united Goya's various oil paintings and engraving series-Caprichos, Disasters of War, Tauromaquia, Proverbs or Follies- that bear witness to a turbulent period in Spain and Europe. The works in the catalogue, besides his career as a court painter and portraitist, explore Goya's extraordinary imagination, along with his reflections of the social circumstances of the era, from a critical perspective. The catalogue seeks to shed light upon Goya's extraordinary imagination with his realistic and at times frightening style that makes him one of the best narrators of darkness separating him from his contemporaries, as his art transcends time, influencing 20th century modernism.