Guernica's History Essay

Picasso painted for himself, as a release from the pressures of his society and as a way to express his thoughts and problems in tangible form. For this reason, the events happening around the time of any Picasso work must be understood before the true meaning of any resulting art can be understood.

The initial airborne drops caught the Germans totally by surprise, and there was little resistance. MG Urquhart, later wrote that “ever since the first landing, General Bittrich commander of the II SS Panzer Corps and his staff had expected the British second lift.'' He also wrote that the Germans had provided early

How does Pablo Picasso’s famous art “Guernica’ represents the history and society in his time?

These two texts are both similar and different and about the civil war. Guernica is about a town in the province of Biscay in Basque County. And how Pablo Picasso painted a painting against the war. The Abraham Lincoln Document is about the Gettysburg Address. The document is Abraham's Speech. The speech is about how they are in a war testing that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can endure. These are similar because they are both about someone who stands up against the war. They are different because Lincoln is not entirely against the war but Picasso is 100% against the war.

Skimming low above the rooftops of Tokyo, the crew of the North American Aviation B-25B No. 40-2292 didn’t have time to climb to 1500 feet, the minimum distance considered safe for bombing. First Lieutenant Travis Hoover leveled off at 900 feet and bombardier 1LT Richard “Bud” Miller manually released his bombs, 3-500 lb. demolition bombs and 1 incendiary cluster. It was impossible to see the results of the bombing from the flight deck or from the “Greenhouse,” Miller’s position in the nose. The flight engineer, observing from his dorsal turret, reported that he could see the results. "Yes, Sir," he reported to Hoover. "All four hit close together and there's smoke all over the area. We got it all right!" With that, Richard E. Miller, bombardier in Crew #2 of Doolittle’s Tokyo Raiders, earned his

All landmarks shown on reference maps had been obliterated; roads, trees and most buildings were reduced to dust. Nonetheless, the attack goes according to plan.

The morale of the German people was not affected enough to effect their war-waging capacity. "Neither a maintenance of productivity nor a rebuilding of industry could have been achieved by means of compulsive but only by virtue of the voluntary response of German workers" . <br><br>It was assumed that bombing raids would be made in the daylight. In August 1940 German bombers suffered heavily in daylight even though they were escorted. This helped to confirm to Bomber Command that night bombing was the best policy. Bomber Command flew night missions over Germany during the winter of 1940-1941 in the belief their bombs had fallen within about 300 yards of their targets. This figure was plainly wrong, a new assumption was made. The R.A.F decided the average error was closer to 1000 yards, which meant that Bomber Command could not be expected to hit targets as small as oil facilities, until they had been equipped with vastly improved navigational aids. The U.S.A.A.F opposed Bomber Commands view, they believed accurate bombing could only be achieved during the day. They assumed unescorted bombers flying in well-designed formations could penetrate the German lines. On 14th October 1943, 60 out 291 flying fortresses were shot down by German fighters during the last major raid on Schweinfurt. The formation had been obliged to fly 400 miles without fighter cover. The Americans suspended daylight

Welch and Taylor were two young pilots who had just gotten back from a night out on the town. The two were driving back to the harbor. Welch noticed some black smoke and Taylor saw the red sun on the wing. The boys rushed to see what was going on. Luckily they managed to sneak and get the only two planes that were functional enough to work in the air. “They were still dressed in their tuxedos!” The men on ground were cheering very loudly when they saw the American flag on one of the planes. Welch and Taylor took down a total of 6 planes. (Demuth 86)

We started moving towards and into the outskirts of the town which at this point mostly consisted of ruins. Everything around there was pretty flat besides the scattered craters left from the bombing. Farther down the road I could see that the church steeple in the center of the town was still intact, but the roof was on fire with holes that it was trying to escape through. And along that road where hedges so tall and thick that the Sherman’s have to have special blades installed on the front in order to move through them. It was also now a reoccurring thing that the Germans would hide their tanks behind them, then ambush the Allied troops once they moved pass them.

The initial German attack force consisted of more than 200,000 men, around 1,000 tanks and assault guns (including the new 70-ton Tiger II tanks) and 1,900 artillery pieces, supported by 2,000 aircraft, the latter including some Messerschmitt Me 262 jets (Battle of the Bulge, n.d.). The German Soldiers were all battle-hardened and veterans of fighting in some of the tough battles fought in WWII. All that was located in the direct line of fire was four American divisions that were inexperienced and just looking for some rest; that unfortunately would have to wait. The 80,000 men had an estimated 400 artillery guns and 250 pieces of armor. During the course of the battle, the Germans lost some 100,000 men, killed, wounded and missing, 700 tanks and 1,600 aircraft, losses they could not replace (Battle of the Bulge). Allied losses consisted of 90,000 men, 300 tanks and 300 aircraft. Luckily, the Allied forces was able to replace their casualties.

For centuries artists have moved audiences through the use of pictures. As time progressed those images became more and more demanding of the viewer until they were meant to invoke a physical response. Perhaps the earliest account of such emotionally exact artwork is the 1818 piece, Raft of the Medusa, by Theodore Gericault. As time progressed people became more politically aware and involved and generations of art portrayed this. Pablo Picasso's Guernica, created in 1937, is a great example of how modern times soon saw a peak in the occurrence of allegorical and politically packed artworks. Gericault's The Raft of the Medusa and Picasso's Guernica are both horrifying accounts of the nature of men that aimed to alter a viewer's political

Guernica is monochromatic to make its imagery more powerful. Lack of color keeps the viewer focused on the subject matter at hand, as well as keeping the mural cold, which agrees with its general theme of injustice in war. Also, Picasso’s flat imagery does not distract the viewer from concentrating on imagery. The viewer is given no other choice than to concentrate on the subject matter of Guernica and ponder it’s meaning. The flat, grayscale images generalize the imagery and contribute to the general theme of unnecessary suffering and tragedy.

heavy German counter attacks while only a third of them were left standing at the end still able

Picasso used several principle and element of art while painting “Guernica”. Some of the elements include value, line, shape, color and, space.

For this project I will be going over the medium for Guernica by Pablo Picasso. The medium means the tools and paints used to create the artwork for this particular piece, it also has to do with the technique on how to construct this painting. But first, let me give you a little background of this symbolic painting. Pablo Picasso created this painting in reaction to the aerial bombing over Guernica, Spain by German and Italian forces during the Spanish Civil War back in 1937. After this tragedy, the Spanish Republic asked Picasso to paint a large mural about the bombing for display at the 1937 World’s Fair in Paris. Guernica was painted in remembrance to show the catastrophe of war as well as the anguish and destruction it inflicted on the people of Spain, especially the innocent civilians. The encompassing scenario is set within a room where, in an empty part on the left, a wide eyed bull looms above a woman grieving for a dead child she is holding. The middle of the painting shows a falling over in pain, having been pierced by a spear or lance. One of the focal points of this piece is the gaping wound in the side of the horse After it was completed, Guernica was exhibited to the world during a limited tour, receiving large amounts of recognition and becoming quite famous. This power piece obtain much exposure bring the Spanish Civil War to the world’s awareness. The colors for the painting are black, white, and grey. It is also done with oil paints on an eleven feet tall