The Disaster of War

By Francisco Goya

"Francisco Goya didn't have to wait for our time to realize that humanity was headed for insolubility and darkness. His shards-sharp integrity and visionary imagination pulls the rug out from under us. Unblinkered and unconstrained by religions or ideologies, alone and ailing, Goya labored for ten years on his astonishing Disasters of War. This clothbound reproduction of the first edition of these radically unflinching etchings about the consequences of war is exquisitely printed “on paper that closely resembles the texture of the original engravings,” as well as mirroring the original format and scale. The book contains no text—apart from a very brief editorial introduction and the bitter-bitingly ironic titles Goya gave each etching—and it doesn't need any. “Terribly contemporary” indeed. Look closely and weep."
–Herbert Pföstl

Following his tenure as court painter for the Spanish royal family, Francisco de Goya's art took on darker subjects and a more expressive style, especially during the Peninsular War (1808–14). Much can be gleaned from the fraught and visceral work of this period, including his series of etchings known as The Disasters of War.

Concerned about the state of the world as much as his own failing health, Goya spent 10 years on what he personally titled Fatal Consequences of Spain's Bloody War with Bonaparte, and Other Emphatic Caprices. Starvation, sickness, looting, assault, torture, execution—each image confronts the shattered lives of everyday soldiers and civilians, accompanied by brief, ambiguous captions such as "Y no hay remedio" ("And there is no remedy") and "Yo lo vi" ("This I saw").

This clothbound book faithfully reproduces the first edition of the complete set of 80 works which was published in 1863, 35 years after Goya's death. It features exquisite printing quality on paper that closely resembles the texture of the original engravings, in a similar format and scale. War is still a condition of human existence today; Goya's etchings are timeless for their vehement denunciation of its atrocities committed by all combatants, regardless of their national affiliations.

2025; hardcover; 9.5" x 12"; 176 pages, 130 ills; ISBN: 9788410024632.