For most of my working hours, I catalog children’s non-fiction books. I get to see books that teach a little about a subject in clear, easy language, often illustrated with lots of pictures. One of these books was And Picasso Painted Guernica, written by Alain Serres and translated from the French by Rosalind Price.
Serres tells the story of Guernica by first offering a brief biography of Picasso. He adds historical details—Edison invented the light bulb the year Pablo Picasso was born, a Zeppelin flies over Switzerland when Picasso is nineteen—to help readers understand the times. Early drawings and paintings of Picasso’s, reproduced beautifully, show his development. His early works, including doves he drew when he was eight, and portraits of his parents he painted as a teen, are remarkably life-like.
When Picasso was a young artist living in Paris, he and fellow artist George Braque turned away from creating life-like reproductions and developed a style of painting eventually called Cubism. “They painted people and objects from many different viewpoints, as if they could see every surface at the same time.” Serres shows examples of Picasso’s colorful cubism on pages with bright colored background.
But then the war comes. General Franco and a section of the Spanish army launch a coup d’etat. The civil war has begun. The pages are now black, white and grey, just as Guernica is black, white and grey, reflecting the horror of the time.
This is an oversized book. Guernica is an oversized painting. The size of Picasso’s masterpiece—eleven feet tall by 25 ½ feet wide—makes it more effective than if it were on a smaller canvas. The size of this book, likewise, makes the book more effective. There is a reproduction of Guernica as a fold-out, allowing the reader to examine the details close-up. Serres asks questions of the reader. “How to make an image more powerful than the blast of 50 tonnes of bombs? How to make it live on, long after the dust and debris has [sic] settled? How to make it linger in the mind’s eye, even when people have stopped looking?” He shows sketches Picasso tried before committing them to the canvas. He focuses on details. “Picasso throws back the mother’s head, and her child’s. He shatters the familiar image of Virgin and Child. Shows the world upside-down, like the child who dies before it can live, like the rain of steel that dreadful day. Like those eyes, those nostrils, made of tears. Like the mouth of the child that makes no sound, and the mother’s that cries out, that screams….”
After a thorough examination of the painting, enhanced with photos taken by a friend of Picasso’s while he was working, the pages again become brightly colored. Life goes on. “After 35 days and many nights of dedicated work on Guernica, Picasso puts away his pots of black, white and grey. Colour reappears in his paintings. … In life, death always brings transformation.” Serres shows paintings, sculptures and other art forms—some very light-hearted—created later in Picasso’s life.
This is a powerful book about a powerful painting and a magnificent artist. It doesn’t take long to read, but you’ll want to examine the sketches and the details. You’ll want to feel the questions Serres asks to understand better how Picasso created his most famous work. This book may be shelved in the children’s department, but adults will be affected by it as much as, or even perhaps more than, children will be.
Check the WRL catalog for And Picasso Painted Guernica.
