“Goya: Order and Disorder” exhibit on view at Boston Museum of Fine Arts

PanARMENIAN.Net - If one walks away with a single impression from the Museum of Fine Arts’ Goya exhibit it might be a reinforcement of the old adage that the more things change, the more they stay the same, Joanne Briana-Gartner said in a review published at CapeNews.Net.

“Francisco Goya was born more than 250 years ago in Spain. For someone born in the mid 18th century, he lived a long time—82 years.

What did he see during those eight decades? The horrors of war, church hypocrisy, the wide gap between the haves and the have nots, the ravages of age, and corrupt and unenlightened governments.

“Goya: Order and Disorder”, currently on view at the MFA through January 19 of next year, is the largest Goya exhibition in North America in the past 25 years.

Unlike, say Jackson Pollock, whose name brings to mind a single style of painting, Goya is not so easily defined. As the premier Spanish portrait artist of his day, Goya worked in oils with subjects often traditionally positioned (with Goya working himself into some of the more notable of these works). Goya is also known for his looser etchings, many allegorical, troubling, and fantastic in nature. Later in his life he completed a series of moving etchings called the “Disasters of War,” and a group of a dozen or more are included in the show. With all the horrible images available to us on the Internet it is amazing that these small prints depicting their various atrocities are still so disturbing and difficult to look at, but they are.

The show also includes many ink washes and sketches, some of which serve as studies for more finished works, but many are beautiful on their own, especially the artist’s naturalistic paintings of women seen hanging laundry, bathing or having their hair styled.

Familiar portraits contained in the show are of the child, “Manuel Osorio Manrique de Zuniga,” and “María del Pilar Teresa Cayetana de Silva Álvarez de Toledo y Silva,” more casually known as the Duchess of Alba. Interestingly, Goya has inserted himself in both these works. In the painting of Manuel, the child’s pet magpie holds Goya’s calling card in his beak; in the female portrait, the Duchess points to the ground where the words “solo Goya” have been written in the sand.

“The Parasol,” on loan from the Prado in Madrid, is another well-known, although more relaxed in nature, large oil painting included in the MFA show.

All of his styles are well represented in the show but it is his etchings, particularly from the Caprichos series, which are most interesting. “The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters” is one of the better known prints from that series, which explores themes such as mismatched marriages, educators who are less educated than their pupils and other social commentaries.

No subject seemed unworthy of being recorded whether it was a man about to fall over backwards on roller skates, a woman fluffing her hair, a vision from a dream, young couples, lecherous old men, vain crones, the spoils of war, or a mother and child portrait. Goya is ever the observer and social commentator through his satirical portrayals of various people and situations.

Goya visually recorded the upper class through formal portraits as well as through images of leisurely pursuits for which he created cartoons (under paintings that were used to create castle tapestries). Goya was equally at home chronicling the lives of the less privileged.

Works in the show are grouped into different general categories which include women, couples, aging, and the more unusual category: balance. Straight-forward images of ice skaters and roller skaters are displayed with less obvious choices such as a priest balanced on a tightrope, indicating the holy man’s inability to maintain his position amid changing political climates. One can image Goya himself trying to find balance in a world that was often pulling the rug out from under him either through political upheaval or through personal health issues.

Goya faced the fears of his day and lessened their impact with ridicule. Goya mocked what he saw as insincere and emphasized truths that moved him and in so doing he righted (at least on canvas) the wrongs he observed,” the review said.