Murillo's Lesson
Artist
Dean McNeil
(1957 - 2015)
Date1994 - 1995
MediumC-print
Dimensions45 x 53 in.
ClassificationsPhotograph
Credit LineGift of Julia Isham Ward
Object number2005.42
Description"Murillo's Lesson" presents a jarring contrast between the vibrancy of its solid, bright colors and the violent nature of its subject. The work was named after the patriotic sacred harp song especially popular in the American South in the 19th century. The constructed tableau of hand-made wooden figurines presents a scene of an execution. The composition of "Murillo's Lesson" a direct reference to Francisco Goya's (1746-1828) print series, The Disasters of War, created in response to the atrocities perpetrated by Napoleon's soldiers who invaded Spain in1808 to quell the insurrection against French rule. One of the etchings depicts a Napoleonic soldier idly smoking a cigarette after hanging a Spanish peasant. Goya intended to convey the madness and illogical tragedy of war as well as the despair that comes from knowing it to be a human habit that most likely will never be broken. His is among the most piercing set of images in the history of Western art. In reducing Goya's political work to a basic caricature of dazzling color, McNeil explores the question of spectacle and how violence is represented in our culture today - in film, videogames, the news, and in other media.
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