Skip to Content
Closed today, next open tomorrow. Closed today, next open tomorrow.

Destruction of Culture (War)

A work made of lithograph in black on cream wove paper.

Image actions

  • A work made of lithograph in black on cream wove paper.

Date:

1939

Artist:

Francisco Dosamantes
Mexican, 1911-1986

About this artwork

This work expresses the Taller de Gráfica Popular’s solidarity with the Republican cause in the Spanish Civil War (1936–39), a primary focus of the workshop’s antifascist production. Under the Cárdenas administration, Mexico was the only country apart from the Soviet Union to openly support the constitutionally elected Republican government against General Francisco Franco’s fascist forces, and the conflict became a political touchstone whose outcome both the Mexican left and right understood as critical to the country’s future.  Dosamantes’s exquisitely rendered and disturbing image underscores the costs of Axis aerial bombardments in both human and cultural terms. 

Español:
Este trabajo expresa la solidaridad del Taller de Gráfica Popular con la causa republicana en la Guerra Civil española (1936-1939), un foco principal de la producción antifascista del taller.  Bajo el gobierno de Cárdenas, México fue el único país, además de la Unión Soviética, en apoyar abiertamente al gobierno constitucionalmente electo de la República en contra de las fuerzas fascistas dirigidas por el general Francisco Franco. Este conflicto se convirtió en piedra de toque tanto para la izquierda como para la derecha mexicanas, quienes entendieron que el resultado de la guerra podría ser crítico para el porvenir de su propio país. La imagen exquisitamente representada e inquietante de Dosamantes subraya los costos de los bombardeos aéreos del Eje tanto en términos humanos como culturales.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Prints and Drawings

Artist

Francisco Dosamantes

Title

Destruction of Culture (War)

Place

Mexico (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1939

Medium

Lithograph in black on cream wove paper

Dimensions

Image: 48.5 × 39.5 cm (19 1/8 × 15 9/16 in.); Sheet: 65 × 50.2 cm (25 5/8 × 19 13/16 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of the Print and Drawing Club

Reference Number

1944.742

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

Share

Sign up for our enewsletter to receive updates.

Learn more

Image actions

Share