One of the works highlighted in Susan Sontag’s Regarding the Pain of Others (and, indeed, featured on the cover of most of the editions of the book) is a series of etchings by Francisco Goya, entitled Los desastres de la guerra or The Disasters of War. The Disasters of War is a series of 81 prints, reflecting on the horror’s Goya witnessed during the Spanish revolutionary war against the French and the following years of famine (Bouvier. 2011). The Disasters of War wasn’t published until 35 years after Goya’s death- 55 years after the war itself had started (Tomlinson, 1989).
Etching is a process in which grooves are carved into metal, either with a tool or acid compound. The metal plate is then inked and wiped, so ink only remains in the grooves, before being pressed to paper. This process is not all that different from how photographic prints would eventually be produced, just manual, with a piece of metal, the artist’s eyes, and a scratching tool.
Goya’s etchings from The Disasters of War are very small- ranging from 5.6 × 6.6 in to 6.4 × 10.2 in (Connell, 2004). Connell cites material shortages, but I recall my printmaking teacher telling us that another reason for their small size was to make them easier to conceal, as their material was too critical of the reinstated French powers to be published.
The images in The Disasters of War deeply evocative- they are beautiful in their rendering, but horrific in their content, which depicts rape, the mutilated corpses of soldier and civilian alike, and people wasting away from starvation. The image that features on the cover of Regarding the Pain of Others is plate number 36, entitled [translated from Spanish] “Not [in this case] either.” I recommend you view the whole series here, but another plate that has stood out to me since I took printmaking in high school is plate 64, “Cartload to the cemetery.”
Bouvier, P. (2011). ‘Yo lo vi’. Goya witnessing the disasters of war: an appeal to the sentiment of humanity. International Review of the Red Cross, 93(884), 1107–1133. https://doi-org.proxy.lib.ohio-state.edu/10.1017/S1816383112000379
Connell, E. (2004) Francisco Goya: A Life. Counterpoint, 2004. ISBN 1-58243-307-0
Tomlinson, J. A., Goya, F., & Wallach Art Gallery. (1989). Graphic evolutions: The print series of francisco goya. New York: Columbia University Press.
This was very informational! I have never heard of etching before, so I found this to be very interesting and helpful in understanding the beginnings of war imagery and its evolutions.
I really like this post. I think you chose a very interesting topic to write about, and I thought it was really cool how you included some photos and explained how they were made and what they depict. Really good post