Guernica: 1936 to the Present

Guernica: 1936 to the Present is a Humanities, Arts and Cultural Studies class taught by Karen Koehler.

Course Description
How does a city become a memory through a painting? Picasso's mural painting of Guernica is among the most celebrated works of twentieth century art, and also one of the most politically loaded and stylistically complex. This course will cover the position of this work within Picasso's career, its legacy, and its historically specific meaning. We will study the painting in terms of Expressionism, Cubism, Surrealism and the Paris exhibition building in which the picture was displayed. The course will unpack the meanings of Guernica and other works of art, architecture, literature and film in relationship to the Spanish Civil War and European fascism. We will explore the embedded memories of Guernica and its influence on post-war art movements such as Art Brut, Cobra, and Abstract Expressionism. We will conclude with a discussion of images of war in contemporary visual culture and the lasting resonance of this painting.

Learning Goals

 * Multi-Cultural
 * Project-based
 * Presenting
 * Reading
 * Writing