Los Caprichos

by Francisco de Goya

Book Overview

After a serious illness in 1792, Goya spent five years recuperating and preparing himself for the burst of creativity that was to follow. He read deeply in the French revolutionary philosophers. From Rousseau he evolved the idea that imagination divorced from reason produces monsters, but that coupled with reason "it is the mother of the arts and the source of their wonders." In Spain he saw a country that had abandoned reason, and he peopled Los...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0486223841
• ISBN13: 9780486223841
• Release Date: June 1969
• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.6" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

goya

Very complete collection. Facinating images. I am glad I have this to add to my collection of art books

Goya sets the bar

This book is phenomenal. The only thing I could say against it is it's a bit small, but I believe the images are actual size, so of course there's not much to be done. A good hardcover edition would show these off very well. These Dover art books are a great, cheap way to get access to images like these if you can't commit to a fine edition or, should you be so fortunate, one of the original prints themselves. Goya one-upped Surrealism, Expressionism, and much more, a hundred years before the fact. These prints take you on a dream journey through some startlingly original imagery that scrutinizes human social engagement with an unsparing eye. Cynical would be too soft a word for some of the images, but somehow it's hard to disagree with Goya's positions. You feel like people were often that empty in Spanish society of the time. And what about today? As for the formal side, the etchings are technically inventive, uninhibited, masterful, confident, and often understated. Goya is content to let a few lines and a dark mass of aquatint evoke a whole interior, alleyway, or landscape. In a way, these prints also relate to Edward Gorey, Tim Burton, and many more. In fifty years you'll be able to rack up a new breed of descendents. Their influence, I'm sure, will be timeless.

Creepy propaganda from a long time ago.

Goya aparently did this book to show how silly the superstitions of the common people were, and still are.