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Goya

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Throughout history we have examples of biographers so committed to the works of their artist subject that the reporting of the writer seems like the visual becoming oral. Such is the case of James Lord and Giacometti, David Sylvester and Francis Bacon, and now Robert Hughes and Jose de Goya y Lucientes. Hughes new publication entitled simply GOYA is the zenith work in the line of brilliant art history writing, books that include 'The Shock of the New' and 'American Visions' as well as definitive books on artists Frank Auerbach and Lucian Freud. His knowledge is both technically sophisticated and psychologically sound and he is a gifted writer in about any métier.

But there is something more to this book than biography. Goya has been important to Hughes throughout his life: his first art purchase as student in Australia was one of the etchings of Goya's `Capricho' series. It wasn't until 1999, when Hughes came close to meeting death from an accident, was in a coma, then gradually recovered through a long series of debilitating therapies, that Hughes was able to overcome his writer's block and actually set about to write the biography of the artist who had become his obsession for years. Hughes admits that it was probably this experience coupled with a vision of Goya himself that made him truly comprehend and incorporate Goya's life of reactionary to the Church, to the absurdity and viciousness of War, to the Inquisition, and to the social injustices he observed. And the interesting parallel of course is that Goya suffered physically not only due to complete deafness, but also to undiagnosed maladies that made his life a trial but did not stop his painting.

Hughes writing style is urbane and conversational, informed and witty, impeccably researched and yet related as though the reader were sitting at the feet of an old longtime acquaintance of Goya. He obviously is in awe of Goya's works, allows him the court portraits and tapestries that Goya endured for money, and makes it a point to examine each painting with fine scrutiny - finding every self portrait of the artist in paintings most other scholars have missed. Rather that writing the life of Goya from his birth chronologically through to his death and epilogue, Hughes examines a life that is inevitably destined to paint the darkness of the Black Paintings and the Caprichos with frequent asides, a style that creates incredible energy in the telling of the life of this amazing artist. Example: In 1980 Goya applied to a "proper institution" - the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando and his entrance exam was a painting entitled "Crucified Christ". Hughes: "It is without much doubt the worst painting he ever did. How could a man who would emerge, some thirty years later, as the most powerful reporter of human anguish in all of Western art have produced this soapy piece of bondieuserie? The ladylike body, unmarked by torment; the absence of any kind of empathy with what real bodies underwent in the course of flogging and crucifixion; the enervated "correctness" of pose - all this combines to convey a sort of sickly, moaning piety that, if it were not for the relative liveliness of the paint and its impeccable provenance, would make you doubt it was by Goya at all." These are not damning critical flagellations: these are the responses of a writer who knows his subject well.

This richly illustrated volume (one only wishes the plates were larger) is well designed to keep pace with history, psychology, and a world timeline and it should be in the libraries of students, artists, art lovers, and scholars. In a line of important books, GOYA is most assuredly the finest product of the gifted Hughes' mind and pen. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

This book is the best to be written about Goya, placing him squarely in the modern arena, debunking most of the silly and trivial myths surrounding his life, and educating the public on one of the true masters. Hughes build-up is slow but thorough. The novice and art-historian alike are given a full historical context for Goya and his work. Hughes' payoff is a far better understanding of artist's life than any other writer as of yet has captured. With less obvious material than other biographers (letters, diaries, etc.), Hughes does a splendid job of re-piecing the cultural and political climate of Spain during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Even if you disagree with him at points and find his critique a bit stuffy, you can never argue with his passion for Goya's art or the research put into the book. His eye for detail and relentless pursuit of background material, make the author's style almost incomparable; because his points are made so plainly and lucidly, he conveys an appreciation of art that few critics can match. This book seeks to educate and entertain, succeeding on both levels. I highly recommend Goya to anyone interested in Modern or European art of the last 300 years.

Anyone searching for a book of Goya reproductions should look elsewhere; nearly all the reproductions here are half-postcard size. But that's not a problem because the book's intent is to describe the artist's life within the context of his time. Unfortunately, it is in that area where the problems lie.

Simply put, the book is poorly written. It is rife with factual inaccuracies and contradictory conclusions. A few of the many examples are:

1) On page 120, in speaking about Goya's group royal portrait of "The Family of Carlos IV," Hughes says: "In 1787-88, when the picture was painted, family groups were distinctly uncommon in Spanish art: Velazquez, for instance, was never once called upon to paint one." In fact, group portraits of the Bourbon royalty were indeed common, such as Louis-Michel Van Loo's portrait "The Family of Philip V" in the Prado. Bourbon family portraits were an intentional departure from the traditional Habsburg royal portraits painted during Velazquez's time. In addition, the reference to Velazquez is confusing and unjustified because Velazquez painted around 150 years before Goya and nowhere near "1787-88, when the picture was painted."

2) On page 131, when conjecturing on whether or not Goya actually fought a bull in his youth, the possibility is dismissed as "a masculine boast easily made in Spain." But by page 351, Hughes has changed his mind and says that Goya "claimed, probably truthfully, that he had fought bulls in his youth."

3) On page 16, the name of Goya's house--the Quinta del Sordo or Deaf Man's Farmhouse--"drew its nickname...from the previous owner, a deaf farmer." But on page 372, he states "the property next door had been owned by a farmer who was deaf" and the name passed to Goya's house when he moved in.

4) On page 402, Hughes says that Goya was buried in the "Santa Maria de la Florida" church. In fact, he was buried in the "San Antonio de la Florida" church. This church has particular relevance to Goya and so the error is just sloppiness.

In addition, the book's timeframe unnecessarily bounces forward and backward, many events that have been described earlier in the book are repeated, and important seminal events in Goya's life are completely ignored, such as when and how did Goya rise to become the First Court Painter?

The book's good points are (1) that it contains information concerning the Bourbon monarchies that I did not know, but which I must unfortunately question because of the other inaccuracies throughout the book, and (2) the book's paper quality is first-rate--thick and glossy--the book is as heavy as lead and will last a long time. Too bad such a beautiful printing job was given to such an undeserving effort.

Hughes sings the praises of Goya in this tome of length and depth and while not as good as THE FATAL SHORE, the book is imbued with Hughes' obvious passion and intimate connection that he has with Goya and his work, which is, unequivocally massive in concept and high in execution.

Comments about the lack of cohesiveness abound, and that is true, but Goya is a tough subject, not to mention so is any artists with a substantive body of work, as such, such criticism is not dually warranted.

Until about 12 years ago, I thought of Goya as a minor artist who had done few memorable works. Then, I happened to stumble upon a major exhibition of Goya's etchings and aquatints at a Rennes museum in Brittany. I was astonished and compelled by what I saw. Most of the exhibit focused on a theme of antiwar and I wanted to know more. Many people have told me since that it's hard to find good books about Goya's etchings and aquatints. So I picked up this volume hoping to fill the void. My expectations with regard to the etchings and aquatints were more than fulfilled. Thank you, Mr. Hughes.

The book offered me much more. It has very good coverage of all Goya's work and what is known about his personal life. Mr. Hughes also has a wonderful ability to describe a work of art in a way that helps you see it in its historical context . . . rather than just in terms of today. From those perspectives, I became equally enthused about Goya's Caprichos and came to understand more about bullfighting and witches than I ever would have otherwise.

The book has a personal touch to it that is compelling. Mr. Hughes suffered a horrible accident before starting this book and had a lengthy recovery before he could begin the work. All of that frustration seems to have energized him to make the book come to life more than one would have ever thought possible.

The book does have three flaws that you should be aware of before beginning. First, the reproductions are usually quite small. If Mr. Hughes hadn't pointed out the tiny details in many cases, no reader would have been able to discern those details from looking at the pages here. Second, you will probably learn more than you ever wanted to know about the Spanish Bourbons for whom Goya was the court painter. There is such as thing as too much historical context. Third, Mr. Hughes like to make unnecessary digs at historical figures that seem gratuitously related to the work here. For example, Ernest Hemingway is characterized as having modeled his style after a woman writer and therefore cannot write appropriately about bull fights.

But if you want to find lots of reasons to enjoy Goya, this is your book.

Good viewing!

I was going to write a review of this book, but after reading S Calwas's opinion, I am going to refer the reader to it; I concur on every point made. Although I am enjoying the book, I have been distracted by the poor editing.

Usually I look for the artist's art in a monograph book, not his story (assuming the art itself would tell it more deeply anyway).
But his writing is enjoyable: humorous, down to earth, cynical and sober, yet you feel through all this the passion and ambition of Goya.
I find the his sober treatment of Goya as a not-so-idealistic fellow to actually inspiring - that he achieved what he did WITH all the real-life compromises he had to make.
Makes you laugh at the ridiculousness of people's meanness, wickedness, arrogance, and downright cruelty. You laugh because you cannot cry.

This biography of Goya is exceptional; integrating an analysis of the artist's work with the artist's biographical data with the sweep of historic events that certainly impacted the imagery.

Hughes relates to us the biographical details of Goya's life, some of which are quite thin, to get a general picture of the man. Like many great artists, more documentation and commentary as their career progresses. Hughes however feels that Goya's deafness impacted his artistic vision and lead the production of his dark masterpieces. Hughes does however give credit to the backward superstitions of Spain regarding witches and devils which did influence some of the dark works. And of course, the terrible events of the Peninsula Wars, the Napoleonic invasion of Spain, also influenced his work. However there are other examples to show that Goya had a propensity for the dark image early in his career as evidenced by his early paintings of robbers, murderers, and rapists that prey on the highways of Spain.

Goya painted in a time of tremendous transition for Spain. The backward country was exploited by the Roman Catholic Church, the aristocracy, and the Bourbon royal family. The country was kept in poverty and darkness by these forces as a method of social control. However the French Revolution had an influence on the Spanish elite, and gradually the old bonds, such as use of the Inquisition, were losened. Napoleon's disasterous invasion of Spain was fascinating in light of the US's current occupation of Iraq. Napoleon thought he would be accepted as a liberator whereas the peasants turned out to be nationalists and fought against him. Napoleon thought he could destroy the Spanish army, which he did, only to have to fight for years against peasant insurgency and guerrilla warfare that wore down the resolve of his troops and officers. Napoleon thought that a new constitution limiting the power of the royalty, the aristocracy, and the church would be welcomed when in fact the Spanish nationalists felt it was imposed on them by foreign Frenchmen. The insurgency and guerrilla war began to dissolve into torture and cruely on both sides, the atrocities became the subject matter of Goya's later work. Goya documents the horrors of war as few other artists have ever done before or since.

Finally, Hughes is very good at giving equal time to the large and beautiful paintings of the families of Carlos III, Carlos IV, and the restoration king, Fernando VII, as well as the expectional printmaking.

There are 115 color reproductions and 100 black and white in the book. It is extremely comprehensive with most every work receiving Hughes' insightful comments.

This is strongly recommended for both historians and art historians. It is a massive success.

Hughes fell from grace on Australian shores with his series on its visual culture. We'd expected something of comparable quality to, 'American Visions', but for a variety of reasons, his survey lacked relevance and fresh insights. A major inhibitor was a near fatal road accident that would have, and some think, should have, aborted the series. Apparently, his long, bed-ridden convalescence induced harrowing visions and re-opened the conduit Hughes had with Goya. He claims the experience gave fresh insights into the artist who'd claimed his early admiration. You need to read his Time essay, reprinted in the collection,'Nothing If Not Critical', to verify this. Together with the summary view of New York's decline as an art hub, and the excoriating zest with which he mutilates the corpse of Julian Schnabel, the Goya piece is Hughes in full career! The film he made to promote this book launched him back out at the accident scene, hobbling about and recounting his nightmares. I feared the worst, given the bad taste he'd left Australians with over the lengthy litigation process with the occupants of the car he'd collected. But the book is good, cohesive and fluent, in the mold of the Bob of old : solid research, punchy phrases, interesting connections (though I think the foretaste of de Chirico is a bit of a stretch!). The writing of mid-career Hughes ('Shock of the New', and American Visions') was studded with pithy, quotable one-liners which are absent from this work. Background on the Bourbon Dynasty was welcomed as were the reproductions on quality paper. Some unnecessary repetition occurs, picked up below by a more negative reviewer. Overall, a quality piece of revisioning. For more on art visit>rodmoss.com

Robert Hughes' book reaches the goal of describing not only the wonderful paintings and drawings of Francisco de Goya, but his life, feelings, beliefs. This makes it possible for all those who are interested in studying Goya's life and work a deeper understanding of the man behind - and beyond - the works.