Portraits: Up Close and PersonalNear the entrance to the exhibition are two striking imagesof the artist recording his own visage. Daura, OliveShirt from the 1960s shows a contemplative and matureDaura in his sixties, staring out of the canvas toward thepainting’s viewer. It is a lyrical composition largely madeup of repetitive daubs of white and yellow paint that areintermingled with brushstrokes of pink and gold pigment.Amidst this field of lighter tones, the artist’s penetratinghazel-gray eyes are complemented by the eponymousolive-greens of the artist’s shirt and the bluish-purples of hiscollar scarf. In contrast, the self-portrait entitled Guerrillaof 1938, on loan from the University of Lynchburg, is astriking declaration of the artist’s Republican allegiances ashe fought with the Popular Front forces in the Spanish CivilWar in 1937.The Spanish Civil War is frequently viewed as a preambleto the Second World War — but with conservative,authoritarian, fascist, monarchical, and other rightwing forces achieving victory in 1939, an outcome thatestablished dictatorial rule in Spain under the leadership ofGeneral Francisco Franco, which was sustained until hisdeath in 1975. Daura left his family in Saint-Cirq-Lapopiein 1937, compelled to fight for what in the Western popularimagination has often been characterized as the great lostcause for Republican and democratic values. Daura’spassionate political loyalties to the republican cause wereno doubt tightly bound up with his roots in Catalonia, aprovince that enjoyed some greater degree of independenceand advancement toward self-governance under RepublicanSpain – accomplishments that were destroyed by the warand the resulting centralized nationalist power.Daura’s self-portrait Guerilla depicts a visage dressed inthe regalia of an artist-soldier, featuring dark browns andbluish greys of the disheveled garments intermixed withruddy reds and golden creams particularly evident in thefigure’s parted lips and layered scarves. Daura portrayshimself unshaven, with the grey-and-white facial stubbleof a mature combatant. The portrait conveys a romanticand revolutionary fervor that became synonymous withRepublican causes affiliated with opposition to right-wingDaura, Olive Shirt (detail), 1960-1969, Oil on canvas, Taubman Museum of Art, Gift of Martha Randolph Daura, 2003.02519
It seems that your browser's pop-up blocker has prevented us from opening a new window/tab. Please click the button below to open the link manually.
