20th Century Spanish art and culture

In this10-week course we work through the development of Spanish art in the 20th century - from the aftermath of Spain's 1898 defeat in the Spanish-American War through dictatorship to democracy. We will focus on key episodes highlighting the contribution of Spanish artists, architects and film-makers to 20th-century visual culture. Starting with the work of Solana, Zuloaga and Sorolla in the 1900s we follow the effects of Spain’s rapid modernisation in the early 20th century and in particular how artist responded to changes in national and regional identity; the role of women, and the political role of art. We look at the Barcelona of Gaudí and Montaner and early Picasso; the cubism of Picasso and Juan Gris; the Spanish Surrealism of Miró, Dalí, Lorca and Bunuel, responses the Civil War and WW2 (Picasso’s Guernica and Josep Renau’s photomontages) and the effects on Fascism on painting, cinema and sculpture under Franco.