【原】(Metro English - 113 - Art - Guernica - By Picasso

Art - Guernica - By Picasso

Guernica is a large oil painting on canvas by Spanish artist Pablo Picasso completed in June 1937. Now in the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid, the gray, black, and white painting was done at Picasso's home in Paris. It is regarded by many art critics as one of the most moving and powerful anti-war paintings in history and is one of Picasso's best-known works.  《格尔尼卡》是西班牙艺术家毕加索于1937年6月完成的一幅大型油画，现在收藏于马德里的索菲亚雷纳博物馆，这幅灰色、黑色和白色的油画是在毕加索在巴黎的家中完成的。它被许多艺术评论家们视为历史上最感人、最强大的反战绘画之一，是毕加索最著名的作品之一。

Standing at 3.49 meters (11 ft 5 in) tall and 7.76 meters (25 ft 6 in) wide, the painting shows the suffering of people and animals wrenched by violence and chaos. Prominent in the composition are a gored horse, a bull, screaming women, dismemberment, and flames.  这幅画高3.49米（11英尺5英寸），宽7.76米（25英尺6英寸），展示了被暴力和混乱折磨的人和动物的痛苦。在这幅作品中，最突出的是一匹被戳中的马、一头公牛、尖叫的女人、残肢和火焰。

The painting was created in response to the bombing of Guernica, a Basque Country town in northern Spain, by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy at the request of the Spanish Nationalists. Upon completion, Guernica was exhibited at the Spanish display at the 1937 Paris International Exposition and then at other venues around the world. The touring exhibition was used to raise funds for Spanish war relief. The painting became famous and widely acclaimed, and it helped bring worldwide attention to the Spanish Civil War.  这幅画是应邀、为了反对西班牙民族主义者的要求、纳粹德国和法西斯意大利对西班牙北部巴斯克乡村小镇格尔尼卡的轰炸而创作的。完成后，格尔尼卡在1937年巴黎国际博览会的西班牙展馆里展出，然后在世界各地的其他场馆展出。这次巡回展览是为了筹集西班牙战争救济的资金而举办的。这幅油画名扬四海，广受赞誉，并使得全世界开始关注西班牙内战。

You already know Pablo Picasso’s 1937 painting Guernica is among his most revered works, but do you know how and why he created the anti-war masterpiece?  你已经知道巴勃罗·毕加索1937年的油画《格尔尼卡》是他最受尊敬的作品之一，但你知道他是如何以及为什么创作这部反战杰作的吗？

1. GUERNICA WAS A COMMISSIONED PAINTING. 格尔尼卡是一幅委托创作的画。

As the 1937 World’s Fair approached, members of Spain’s democratic government wanted the Spanish pavilion at Paris’ International Exposition Dedicated to Art and Technology to feature a mural that would expose the atrocities of Generalissimo Francisco Franco and his allies. Naturally, these organizers set their sights on one of Spain’s most celebrated painters, Pablo Picasso, who had first gained recognition in the 1910s with his adoption of cubist artistic expression.  随着1937年世界博览会的临近，西班牙民主政府的成员希望在巴黎国际艺术和技术博览会上的西班牙馆以一幅壁画为特色，揭露弗朗西斯科·弗兰科将军及其盟友的暴行。当然，这些组织者将目光投向了西班牙最著名的画家之一，巴勃罗·毕加索，他在1910年代采用立体派的艺术表现方式而首次获得认可。

2. PICASSO HADN’T BEEN TO SPAIN IN OVER THREE YEARS.  毕加索三年多没有去过西班牙。

Picasso didn’t have to go far to work on a piece for the Paris exhibition—he had lived in France since 1904. An expat who was vocal about his opposition to the militant autocracy of his home country, Picasso crafted the tribute to the war-torn Spanish city without having set foot within the nation’s borders since 1934. He would never return to Spain.  毕加索从1904年起就一直生活在法国，他不必为巴黎展览会的一件作品付出太多的努力。毕加索是一位外国人，他曾公开表示反对他祖国的激进独裁统治，他自1934年以来一直没有踏足西班牙国土，但是却精心创作了这幅作品向这座饱受战争蹂躏的西班牙城市致敬。他再也不会回西班牙了。

3. FRANCO’S FORCES BLAMED THE BOMBING DEPICTED IN THE PAINTING ON THEIR RIVALS.  佛朗哥的军队把这幅画里描述的爆炸事件归咎于他们的对手。

Picasso’s painting depicts the bombing of the Basque town of Guernica on April 26, 1937. Franco’s German and Italian allies in the Spanish Civil War carpet-bombed Guernica, a stronghold of Republican opposition to Franco’s Nationalists, for hours. Casualty estimates vary from 200 to 1000 deaths. To make matters worse, Franco and his allies blamed the horrific attack on Republican forces.  毕加索的画描绘了1937年4月26日对巴斯克古尔尼卡镇的轰炸。佛朗哥的德国和意大利盟友在西班牙内战中地毯式轰炸了游击队，游击队是共和党反对佛朗哥民族主义者的据点，持续数小时。伤亡估计从200人到1000人不等。更糟的是，佛朗哥和他的盟友将恐怖袭击归咎于共和党军队。

4. AN ARTICLE IN THE TIMES INSPIRED PICASSO.  《泰晤士报》的一篇文章启发了毕加索。

Picasso didn’t witness the Guernica atrocities firsthand, but he was deeply moved by a report of the event written by South African-British journalist George Steer for The Times. The article, titled, “The Tragedy of Guernica: A Town Destroyed in Air Attack: Eye-Witness’s Account,” was attributed in print to “Our Special Correspondent.”  毕加索没有亲眼目睹格尔尼卡的暴行，但南非英国记者乔治·斯蒂尔为《泰晤士报》撰写的一篇报道深深地打动了他。这篇题为以我们的特派记者名义被印刷的叫做《格尔尼卡的悲剧：空袭中被毁的小镇：目击者的叙述》的文章。

5. HE BEGAN WORKING ON THE PAINTING AT THE LAST MINUTE.  他在最后一刻才开始创作这幅画的。

Picasso was so affected by Steer’s Guernica story that he scrapped all pending plans to devote himself to the pavilion mural. The artist began work on what would be one of his earliest politically inclined pieces on May 1, 1937, approximately three weeks before the scheduled launch of the exhibit. Guernica was not completed until early June, about two weeks after the pavilion opened.  毕加索被斯蒂尔的格尔尼卡故事深深地打动了，他放下了所有其他的事情，专心投入于展馆壁画的创作。这位艺术家于1937年5月1日开始创作他最早的政治倾向作品之一，大约在预定的展览开始前三周。格尔尼卡直到6月初才完工，大约在展馆开放两周后。

6. PICASSO SIMULTANEOUSLY PUT TOGETHER ANOTHER CRITIQUE OF FRANCO.  毕加索同时对佛朗哥提出了又一次批评。

The fact that Picasso cranked out what is now known as one of the most famous paintings of the 20th century in just over a month is impressive enough in its own right, but Guernica wasn’t even the sole focus of the artist’s attention during this time. In January 1937, Picasso had published a set of etching and aquatint prints, collectively titled The Dream and Lie of Franco. On June 7 of the same year, around the same time that he delivered Guernica to the Spanish pavilion, Picasso added a second batch of images to The Dream and Lie of Franco.  毕加索在短短一个多月内就完成了现在被称为20世纪最著名的画作之一，这一事实本身就足以令人印象深刻，但在这一时期，格尔尼卡甚至不是画家唯一的关注焦点。1937年1月，毕加索出版了一套版画，合称为《佛朗哥的梦与谎言》。同年6月7日，大约在他把《格尔尼卡》送到西班牙馆的同一时间，毕加索在《佛朗哥的梦和谎言》中添加了第二批图像。

7. AN EARLY VERSION OF THE PAINTING WAS MORE EMPOWERING.  这幅画的早期版本更有说服力。

Unsurprisingly, Guernica evolved between its inception and completion. One of Picasso’s earliest drafts of the painting included a raised fist, a universal symbol of solidarity in resistance to oppression. Opponents of Franco’s reign had embraced the emblem during the Spanish Civil War. Picasso depicted the fist empty-handed at first, then grasping a sheaf of grain. Ultimately, he deleted the image altogether.  不出所料，格尔尼卡在它的开始和完成之间发展。毕加索最早的绘画草稿之一包括一个举起的拳头，这是抵抗压迫团结一致的普遍象征。在西班牙内战期间，反对佛朗哥统治的人已经接受了这一标志。毕加索最初画了一只空着的拳头，然后抓住一捆粮食。最终，他还是把它们全都删除了。

8. ANOTHER STAGE OF GUERNICA INVOLVED COLOR.  格尔尼卡的另一个阶段是彩色的。

Guernica is one of history’s most recognizable grayscale paintings, but at one point during the piece’s development, Picasso entertained the idea of adding color to the project. He included a red teardrop sprouting from a crying woman’s eye, as well as swatches of colored wallpaper. None of these elements made the final cut.  格尔尼卡是历史上最著名的灰度绘画之一，但在这幅作品的发展过程中，毕加索曾有过一个想法，那就是给作品增加颜色。他包括一颗从哭泣的女人的眼睛里冒出来的红色泪珠，还有几张彩色墙纸。这些元素最终都没有在最后版本里出现。

9. PICASSO REFUSED TO TALK ABOUT THE PAINTING’S SYMBOLISM.  毕加索拒绝谈论这幅画的象征意义。

Scholars have long tried to decode the significance of the symbols in Guernica, especially the horse and bull figures. Naturally, Picasso was probed to explain the use of these creatures in his painting. He never offered anything more revelatory than “This bull is a bull and this horse is a horse,” adding, “If you give a meaning to certain things in my paintings it may be very true, but it is not my idea to give this meaning. What ideas and conclusions you have got I obtained too, but instinctively, unconsciously. I make the painting for the painting. I paint the objects for what they are.”  长期以来，学者们一直试图解读格尔尼卡象征的意义，尤其是马和公牛的形象。自然而然，毕加索也被问及这些生物在他的绘画过程中的使用意图。他从没有说起过比“这头公牛就是头公牛，这匹马就是匹马”更具启发性的话了，“他还补充说道，”可能你在我的绘画中会赋予某些事物某种意义，即使那可能非常真实，但我并没有赋予它们这些意义。你或许得到了什么想法和结论，我也得到我的结论了，但那是本能的，且无意识的。我画的这幅画、我画这些东西，是因为它们就是它们。”

10. EARLY REVIEWS OF THE PAINTING WEREN’T ALL POSITIVE.  早期对这幅画的评论并不都是正面的。

Today, Guernica is celebrated as one of Picasso’s premiere achievements. But it wasn’t always hailed as a masterpiece. Among the piece’s leading detractors were American critic Clement Greenberg (who called Guernica “jerky” and “compressed”), French painter and communist Edouard Pignon (who maligned the painting for its misplaced political message and lack of empathy for the working class), French philosopher Paul Nizan (who shared Pignon’s sentiments, and further called Guernica a product of the bourgeoisie mentality), and American abstract painter Walter Darby Bannard (criticizing in particular the painting’s counterintuitive scale).  今天，格尔尼卡被誉为毕加索最伟大的成就之一，但它并非从一开始就被誉为杰作。这幅作品的主要批评者包括美国批评家克莱门特·格林伯格（他称《格尔尼卡》为“混蛋”和“被压缩的”）、法国画家和共产主义画家伊多亚德·皮格农（他因这幅画的政治信息错位和对工人阶级缺乏同情心而对其进行了诽谤）、法国哲学家保罗·尼桑（他与皮格农有相同的情感，并进一步称格尔尼卡为资产阶级思想的产物），美国抽象派画家沃尔特·达比·班纳德（尤其是批判了这幅画的反直觉尺度）。

11. NAZI GERMANY TOOK POTSHOTS AT GUERNICA.  纳粹德国对格尔尼卡进行了枪击。

Due to both Guernica’s antifascist message and Adolf Hitler’s personal aversions to modern art, the official German guidebook for Paris’s International Exposition recommended against visiting Picasso’s piece, which it called “a hodgepodge of body parts that any four-year-old could have painted.”  由于格尔尼卡的反法西斯思想和阿道夫·希特勒个人对现代艺术的厌恶，巴黎国际博览会的德国官方指南建议不要参观毕加索的作品，它称之为“任何四岁的人都可以画的肢体部位的大杂烩”。

12. YEARS LATER, GERMANY USED THE PAINTING IN A MILITARY CAMPAIGN.  几年后，德国在一次军事宣传活动中使用了这幅画。

Apparently misunderstanding the nature of Guernica and its antiwar stance, the German military used the painting in an ill-conceived recruiting advertisement in 1990. The ad featured the slogan, “Hostile images of the enemy are the fathers of war.”  显然，德国军方误解了格尔尼卡的本质及其反战立场，在1990年在一则构思拙劣的招兵广告中使用了这幅画。广告上的口号是：“敌人的充满敌意的描述，才是引发战争的根源。”

13. THE PAINTING INSPIRED A PICASSO EXCHANGE WITH A GESTAPO OFFICER.  这幅画引发了毕加索与盖世太保军官的一次交流。

Almost as famous for his biting wit as he was for his artistic prowess, Picasso once treated a German Gestapo officer to a sharp rejoinder in reference to the painting’s depiction of the atrocities of fascism and war. When asked by an officer about a photo of the painting, “Did you do that?” Picasso is said to have replied, “No, you did.”  毕加索以敏锐的机智和高超的艺术才华闻名于世，他曾以绘画中对法西斯主义和战争暴行的描述，对一位德国盖世太保军官进行了尖锐的反驳。当一位官员问起这幅画时，“这是你画的吗？据说，当时毕加索回答说：“不，这是你们画的。”

14. THE PAINTING WAS VANDALIZED BY AN ANTIWAR ACTIVIST.  这幅画被一位反战活动家破坏了。

At one point its long residency at New York City’s Museum of Modern Art, Guernica suffered an act of politically-charged defacement. In 1974, Tony Shafrazi—who would later become a respected art dealer—spray-painted the words “KILL ALL LIES” over the painting. Upon his apprehension by museum security, Shafrazi famously shouted, “Call the curator. I am an artist.”  曾一度《格尔尼卡》长期在纽约现代艺术博物馆展出，《格尔尼卡》遭受了有政治目的的损毁。1974，托尼·沙弗拉兹 - 后来成为了一位受人尊敬的画廊艺术品经销商 - 在画上喷上了“让所有谎言去死吧”的字眼。沙夫拉齐被博物馆保安逮捕后，他曾大声喊道：“给馆长打电话。我是个艺术家。”

15. THE PAINTING WAS COVERED UP DURING A SPEECH MADE BY COLIN POWELL.  在科林·鲍威尔的一次演讲时，这幅画被盖住了。

From 1985 to 2009, the United Nations adorned the entrance of its Security Council with a tapestry reproduction of Guernica. In February 2003, then-Secretary of State Colin Powell delivered a televised speech on site at the UN, testifying in favor of America’s imminent declaration of war on Iraq. A large blue curtain covered the tapestry during Powell’s speech.  从1985年到2009年，联合国在其安全理事会的入口处装饰了一幅格尔尼卡的挂毯复制品。2003年2月，时任美国国务卿的科林·鲍威尔在联合国现场发表了一次电视讲话，证明美国即将宣布对伊拉克战争。鲍威尔演讲时，一块蓝色的大窗帘遮住了挂毯。

Conflicting reports attributed the decision to obscure Guernica both to journalists thinking the violent imagery would be unpleasant for viewers of the broadcast, and to the Bush Administration deeming the display of such a recognizable antiwar painting inappropriate for the backdrop of Powell’s promotion of military action.

commissioned painting 委托作画

the last minute 最后一刻

atrocities (尤指战争中的)残暴行为

cubist artistic expression 立体派艺术表现

autocracy 独裁

carpet-bombed 地毯式轰炸

simultaneous 同时

pavilion mural 馆内壁画

grayscale painting 灰度绘画

symbolism 象征意义

revelatory  启示性的

review 评论

hodgepodge 大杂烩

stance 立场

German Gestapo officer 德国盖世太保军官

vandalize  故意破坏

defacement 损毁

tapestry 挂毯

以上就是今天的内容。欢迎继续关注Metro English。

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