GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Apocalypsis marks a transition between Raquel Forner’s artistic exploration of human suffering and her optimistic and influential Space Series, begun in 1957. Here she shows disparate groups of people separated by rigid, abstract landforms. Their movement obstructed, many figures appear gripped by death. Two moons adorn the canvas’s upper corners. Their alternate lunar phases suggest a cycle of human conflict. The tortoise in the lower right-hand corner signals the passage of time, slowly inching toward the full moon.
This work shares compositional and stylistic features with Pablo Picasso’s Guernica (1937). Both responded to recent military and civilian clashes—he to the bombing of a small Basque village during the Spanish Civil War (1936–39) and she to the 1955 Argentine uprising to end Juan Perón’s second presidential term. Forner spent much of her youth in Spain and spoke candidly about the inspiration she drew from the Spanish Civil War, but she never addressed the similarities between her work and that of Picasso.
Excerpt from
Erin Piñon, Tower Gallery: Latin American Art, Label text, 2017.
NOTES
Tower Gallery: Latin American Art, 2017.
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Forner_Raquel: ULAN: 500116569
Cultures
Geography
Argentina (nation): TGN: 7006477
Buenos Aires: TGN: 7006287
Process/materials
oil paint: AAT: 300015050
board: AAT: 300014616
composition wood board (composition board): AAT: 300411316
Historical periods
Individuals
Subject terms
painting (visual works): AAT: 300033618
suffering (sensation / psychological concepts): AAT: 300055184
figures (representations): AAT: 300189808
human figures: AAT: 300404114
female: AAT: 300189557
women (female humans): AAT: 300025943
male: AAT: 300189559
men (male humans): AAT: 300025928
standing: AAT: 300239500
groups (organizations): AAT: 300386362
abstract: AAT: 300108127
abstraction: AAT: 300056508
landscapes (environments): AAT: 300008626
seas: AAT: 300008694
oceans: AAT: 300008687
sand: AAT: 300014341
bodies (human and animal components): AAT: 300404640
deaths: AAT: 300151836
dead (people): AAT: 300389809
moon: AAT: 300386951
moonlight: AAT: 300386089
conflict (general sense): AAT: 300379397
animals (Animalia kingdom): AAT: 300249395
tortoises (animals): AAT: 300250297
time: AAT: 300133089
wrapping (surface covering process): AAT: 300234992
sheets (bed coverings): AAT: 300204598
Picasso_Pablo: ULAN: 500009666
military service: AAT: 300393208
wars: AAT: 300055314
battles: AAT: 300185692
civil wars: AAT: 300055315
Spain (nation): TGN: 1000095
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
From 1959: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Dallas Art Association Purchase, purchased from the artist [1], [2], [3], [4]
[1] The main source for this provenance was existing information in TMS (in Dallas Museum of Art Digital Collections Records Object Files). Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.
[2] The main source for this provenance is letter from Raquel Forner to Jerry Bywaters, Director of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts (dated January 13, 1960, copy in Dallas Museum of Art Collections Records Object File, Confidential). Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.
[3] The main source for this provenance is letter (inventory list) (n.d., copy in Dallas Museum of Art Collections Records Object File, Confidential). Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.
[4] The Dallas Art Association is the predecessor to the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts. The name was abandoned in 1970. Works from this collection were transferred to the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts. The name of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, founded in 1933, changed to the Dallas Museum of Art in 1983.
AUDIO ASSETS
VIDEO ASSETS
IMAGE ASSETS
WEB RESOURCES
ARCHIVAL RESOURCES
FUN FACTS
TEACHING IDEAS
RULES
Apply to objects where number equals 1959.47
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General Description
Apocalypsis marks a transition between Raquel Forner’s artistic exploration of human suffering and her optimistic and influential Space Series, begun in 1957. Here she shows disparate groups of people separated by rigid, abstract landforms. Their movement obstructed, many figures appear gripped by death. Two moons adorn the canvas’s upper corners. Their alternate lunar phases suggest a cycle of human conflict. The tortoise in the lower right-hand corner signals the passage of time, slowly inching toward the full moon.
This work shares compositional and stylistic features with Pablo Picasso’s Guernica (1937). Both responded to recent military and civilian clashes—he to the bombing of a small Basque village during the Spanish Civil War (1936–39) and she to the 1955 Argentine uprising to end Juan Perón’s second presidential term. Forner spent much of her youth in Spain and spoke candidly about the inspiration she drew from the Spanish Civil War, but she never addressed the similarities between her work and that of Picasso.
Excerpt from
Erin Piñon, Tower Gallery: Latin American Art, Label text, 2017.
Fun Facts
Archival Resources
Web Resources
Notes
Tower Gallery: Latin American Art, 2017.
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Forner_Raquel: ULAN: 500116569
Cultures
Geography
Argentina (nation): TGN: 7006477
Buenos Aires: TGN: 7006287
Process/materials
oil paint: AAT: 300015050
board: AAT: 300014616
composition wood board (composition board): AAT: 300411316
Historical periods
Individuals
Subject terms
painting (visual works): AAT: 300033618
suffering (sensation / psychological concepts): AAT: 300055184
figures (representations): AAT: 300189808
human figures: AAT: 300404114
female: AAT: 300189557
women (female humans): AAT: 300025943
male: AAT: 300189559
men (male humans): AAT: 300025928
standing: AAT: 300239500
groups (organizations): AAT: 300386362
abstract: AAT: 300108127
abstraction: AAT: 300056508
landscapes (environments): AAT: 300008626
seas: AAT: 300008694
oceans: AAT: 300008687
sand: AAT: 300014341
bodies (human and animal components): AAT: 300404640
deaths: AAT: 300151836
dead (people): AAT: 300389809
moon: AAT: 300386951
moonlight: AAT: 300386089
conflict (general sense): AAT: 300379397
animals (Animalia kingdom): AAT: 300249395
tortoises (animals): AAT: 300250297
time: AAT: 300133089
wrapping (surface covering process): AAT: 300234992
sheets (bed coverings): AAT: 300204598
Picasso_Pablo: ULAN: 500009666
military service: AAT: 300393208
wars: AAT: 300055314
battles: AAT: 300185692
civil wars: AAT: 300055315
Spain (nation): TGN: 1000095
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
From 1959: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Dallas Art Association Purchase, purchased from the artist [1], [2], [3], [4]
[1] The main source for this provenance was existing information in TMS (in Dallas Museum of Art Digital Collections Records Object Files). Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.
[2] The main source for this provenance is letter from Raquel Forner to Jerry Bywaters, Director of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts (dated January 13, 1960, copy in Dallas Museum of Art Collections Records Object File, Confidential). Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.
[3] The main source for this provenance is letter (inventory list) (n.d., copy in Dallas Museum of Art Collections Records Object File, Confidential). Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.
[4] The Dallas Art Association is the predecessor to the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts. The name was abandoned in 1970. Works from this collection were transferred to the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts. The name of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, founded in 1933, changed to the Dallas Museum of Art in 1983.
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1959.47
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