What humanity?
The Human Figure After the War (1940–1960)
at MNAC Museu Nacional D’Art De Catalunya, Barcelona 🎨
This curated collection starts a conversation about
“… the relationship between the body and consciousness, the possibility of heroism, the function of the grotesque, the image of the monster, the nostalgia for beauty or the communicative function of the face.”
This is an exhibition that can cause distress and fear of humankind, as much as empathy for its dark past and hope for a better future.
“Around one hundred works by top level Catalan, Spanish and international artists who, between 1940 and the mid nineteen sixties, tackled the question of the figure and of the human condition, faced with the uncertainties, mutations, failures and hopes caused by the Second World War and its prologue, the Spanish Civil War”
Often the trembling lines, furious brushstrokes and convulsing paintings are hard to watch, even more so knowing these are the memories of once a living person.
I do not know if the art is able to save the world but it does make one feel that it must be rescued.
In this post I included mostly positive works, because many artists also experienced a tremendous relief when the conflicts they were a part of came to an end.
Sometimes one might feel very small and incapable of making any change,
but even by just doing a tiny good thing to the people around us,
one can leave an impact.
What humanity? runs through 11 February 2024.
—purplesfinx
Flommist Veronika Vezirova, a.k.a. Purplesfinx, is an illustrator and graphic designer based in Barcelona. Inspired by culture of all kinds, she writes on topics that include art history, creativity and folklore. Her other works include manga and psychedelic poetry. Copyright © 2023 Veronika Vezirova.
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