Picasso's War

August 26, 2002
Picasso watched closely from his adopted Paris as the Spanish Civil War unfolded, and when German bombers leveled the Basque village of Guernica, the previously apolitical Picasso felt stirred to action. Created at a frenzied pace, his painting Guernica
was both homage to his Catalonian homeland and a scathing indictment of bloodshed. While Martin (Beethoven's Hair) meticulously describes the painting's creation and context, much of the book focuses on the controversies that haunted the canvas for decades. When Guernica
was first introduced at the Spanish pavilion of the 1937 International Exposition of Art and Technology Applied to Modern Life in Paris, it was ignored by many, criticized by others for ugliness—and even for not being political enough. Later acknowledged as a classic, it was housed in New York's Museum of Modern Art, safe from the war overseas. By the '60s, voices grew stronger asking for its return to Spain, the country that had originally commissioned its creation. With Franco still in power, an aging Picasso asked that the painting go to Spain only when the country was once again free from oppression. Within this larger narrative, Martin weaves a memoir of his own trek to visit Guernica, which finally arrived in Spain in the 1980s. The culmination of this thread, when Martin coincidentally views the painting on September 11, 2001, brings the narrative into the contemporary world and highlights Guernica's brutal relevance today. (Oct. 28)Forecast:Martin's
Out of Silence: An Autistic Boy's Journey into Language and Communication (1994) was widely reviewed and acclaimed, and
Beethoven's Hair (2000) was a
Washington Post Book of the Year and a
Los Angeles Times bestseller. Look for strong national reviews, many of which will use the book as a springboard to discuss more recent political art (and the lack thereof).

March 3, 2003
"Painting is not done to decorate apartments. It is an instrument of war." So said Spaniard Pablo Picasso, who created the famous painting Guernica
during the Spanish Civil War in reaction to the Nazis' bombing of the Basque village of the same name. Guernica
is widely regarded as the best known work of anti-war visual art ever made. Wyman takes a friendly, straightforward approach to reading Martin's historical and personal account of the life of the massive painting, reminiscent of a favorite college professor. His occasional accents work more as an indication of a change of speaker rather than as convincing characters, but his enthusiasm for this saga of art, politics and tragedy makes it a winning performance. The story of Guernica's life after its creation is as fascinating as the events that inspired it are horrific. After the painting received much criticism when it was first exhibited in Paris in 1937, the world later deemed it a masterpiece. New York's Museum of Modern Art kept it safe from the political turmoil in Spain for decades until it was finally demanded back in the 1980s. In 2001, when Martin (Beethoven's Hair) finally saw the work—a monument to the horrors of war—he was told by a stranger that he should get to a television. It was September 11.
Martin is now speaking publicly about the parallels between the "terror and unspeakable cruelty" of September 11 and Guernica, making this a surprisingly timely audiobook. Based on the Dutton hardcover (Forecasts, Aug. 26, 2002).