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Dear Chelsey,

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving vacation and I hope that you have had a great semester! I

enjoyed reading your draft and I really like your topic. The Guernica fascinates me and Picasso is one of

my favorite artists. I thought you include great analysis in your draft. The purpose of this letter is to give

you suggestions on how to improve your paper and your writing as whole. Please email me if you have

any questions or concerns.

Before you turn in the final copy of your final paper, spend time on (1) Including critical discourse

throughout your paper, (2) Expanding on certain key points, and (3) Rewording some sentences and

phrases.

Critical Discourse:

I liked the quotations that you included in your paper, however I feel that they were awkwardly placed.

Instead of placing the quotations before the paragraph, I would incorporate them into it. Make sure to

state your argument and use the quotation as evidence to strengthen your argument, rather than using the

quotation to shape your argument. You want your argument to be your own, not based off a quotation

written by another scholar. Additionally, I noticed that you do not use all of your sources in the paper.

Make sure to include every source and include more about what other scholars have said on the topic. I

know that you couldn’t find a lot of scholarly sources that discuss your thesis, so address the possible

reason why they have not and why your thesis is still important. Furthermore, the library has some great

books on this particular painting, so maybe peruse those and see if they say anything about your

argument. Lastly, Professor Ancell wants you to rebut any scholarly arguments that you disagree with.

Make sure to include those if you have found any and explain why they are wrong.

Expansion:

I found that, in some places, you could expand more. There are sentences that have an ambiguous

meaning, and there are places where your ideas can be more thoroughly addressed. For example, on the

beginning of page three you say, “This lack of linear perspective creates the most chaos in the painting

because it makes it confusing and frustrating not knowing what and where things are.” What are the

“things” you are referring to? Who is it frustrating to? I highlighted most of the places that can be

expanded upon in my comments on your draft. Your paper does not quite meet the length requirements

(six to seven pages). With expansion, I know you can meet it.

Rewording:

While reading your paper, I noticed that there are sentences and phrases that can be reworded for better

clarity of meaning. For example, on the beginning of page three you write, “Having this lack of depth

makes it so that it doesn’t make sense and becomes confusing on what is where and everything seems

more meshed together than separate subjects.” I think this sentence can be recast to help the clarity of the

sentence. I highlighted the places in your paper that can be reworded.

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This paper has some great potential. I look forward to conferencing with you. Please bring a revised draft

to our conference.

Happy Writing,

Victoria

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Humanities 202

23 October 2012

Picasso’s Guernica

The painting Guernica was created by Picasso during a time of frantic distress and

is clearly shown through the painting. During the time he painted this piece, the innocent town of

Guernica had just been bombed and completely destroyed by the orders of Franco who was the

tyrant of Spain at the time. This large painting depicts the tragedy of the event when the town

was bombed and is not easy to look at. A dead baby in a screaming woman’s arms and a man

being trampled by a dying horse are all depicted in a mass of confusion. The characters and

symbols are not the only aspects of this painting that create emotions of fear and a feel of chaos

in the viewer. Picasso uses black and white instead of color and abandons linear perspective with the use

of cubism in order to create this mood of disorder and confusion.

The first of techniques Picasso uses to create a chaotic feel in his painting is the use or

lack of linear perspective. He achieves this through his art with his style of cubism. Cubism does

not give the characters any three dimensional feel, and makes them appear flat on the paper or

canvas. The purpose of cubism was so that the painter was able to paint the object from many

points of view seeing every side. This way the painter was able to create a representation of the

subject completely in a painting. Picasso creates this style of art when linear perspective

techniques were just becoming refined in the art world around him. With the viewer surrounded

with paintings around that time that were so realistic looking, and containing such depth, it

would be surprising and somewhat frustrating to see Picasso’s Guernica. It does not make sense

in the viewer’s mind, and neither is it aesthetically pleasing.

Comment [VKC1]: I would rewrite this; it’s a little awkward.

Comment [VKC2]: Is this your thesis? Apply how these artistic devices tell us more about Picasso’s time. Also, reword it a little.

Comment [VKC3]: I’m not sure what you mean by this. Expand on it.

Comment [VKC4]: It’s aesthetically pleasing to some. I would say that it’s not traditionally seen as aesthetically pleasing.

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“There is a latent, hidden brutality in the cold dissections of Cubist painting… If we look

closer at the vocabulary and the syntax of these works, we discover broken, segmented and

dissonant shapes and harsh confrontations.” (Hofmann 149)

This plainly describes how cubism is able to show the harsh reality of what is being

portrayed no matter how scary or sad it is. The use of cubism allows us to see every angle which

could seem intruding or too upfront to the viewer. Picasso uses cubism in the Guernica to the

advantage of showing us the brutal honesty and the reality of the event. The viewer is able to see

all sides, even if they don’t want to. Using cubism enhances the chaos of the scene and allows

Picasso to give a true representation of the event. cubism has a hidden brutality which is brought

to life in this painting through abrupt and broken angles.

The deformed figures created through cubism also create emotions of fear and

uncertainty. The people painted do not exactly look like real people or what a human really looks

like. The proportions are all wrong and facial features are not in the right place. Although it

would seem like having unrealistic human figures would take away from the seriousness and

validity of the painting, it does not. It adds to it because of the use of cubism. The faces look

deformed because we are seeing many angles of the same subject so we can understand

completely what is being represented, which also means that nothing is hidden. With everything

out on the table, the sincerity of cubism in distorting subjects contributes to the overall sense of

fear and chaos.

Another aspect of cubism that contributes to the chaos of the painting is the lack of linear

perspective. This allows the figures and subjects to have a two dimensional look and appear flat

on the paper. Everything lies on top of each other making it so that there is no depth linearly.

Having this lack of depth makes it so that it doesn’t make sense and becomes confusing on what

is where and everything seems more meshed together than separate subjects. It makes it hard to

Comment [VKC5]: This quotation seems oddly placed. I would incorporate it into the paragraph itself, and not at the very beginning. Maybe describe the intruding and upfront nature of cubism and then say how Hofmann agrees with this idea. Then you can include this quotation after.

Comment [VKC6]: What do you mean by this? What were all the sides? Here, you can bring in a little more historical background so the audience knows just how bad the bombing was.

Comment [VKC7]: How?

Comment [VKC8]: Is cubism the truest form of representation then? Do you mean that he is accurately showing the chaos of the event? I would clarify this sentence.

Comment [VKC9]: Provide an example.

Comment [VKC10]: What doesn’t make sense? I don’t understand what you mean.

Comment [VKC11]: Reword.

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distinguish where the ground and the sky meet or where they are. This lack of linear perspective

creates the most chaos in the painting because it makes it confusing and frustrating not knowing

what and where things are. This two dimension restriction strengthens the emotional power of

fear and confusion in this painting that would not be the same without.

The second technique Picasso uses to create a chaotic feel is the lack of color and use of

black and white in The Guernica. With the use of only two colors that are so contrasting it is

sometimes hard to make out what is actually in the painting. Having no color also creates a more

solemn feel to the paining. No other scholars have exactly covered my thesis. Most of the other

scholars are looking at what each animal or object means and why he painted what he painted.

The lack of color and of linear perspective help build chaotic and depressing emotions in the

viewer seeing Picasso’s art piece, Guernica, which represents the war and bombings on the town

Guernica during the war.

“As a matter of plain, cold fact, a very rich sense of color can be realized in form with black and

white alone- entirely free of other colors such as pink, orange, gray, green or violet. It is

particularly valuable for students to see how the supposedly limited range of black and white can

trigger a torrent of rich virtual action… The use of black and white together generates a dialogue

between virtual opponents. Though they are deeply different, they can work with each other to

superb advantage.” (Wasserman 2)

Lack of color in the Guernica is one aspect that contributes to the chaos of the painting

but does not mean that it becomes emotionless. Black and white paintings, as shown above,

create emotions that colors cannot. It puts the characters in motion and dialogue. These opposing

forces of black and white work together to create such wonderful contrast that one could not say

that the absence of color lacks emotion. What is also important of having this piece in black and

white is that it evokes fear of the unknown in the viewer. When there is no color, things tend to

be harder to distinguish in this painting. Having such contrasts also creates such sharp edges in

this painting. There are many angles and geometric shapes seen throughout. They are able to pop

Comment [VKC12]: Where who is?

Comment [VKC13]: I don’t know what you mean by this. How do you not know what and where things are? What things are you referring to? Why is it confusing and frustrating? Who is it confusing and frustrating to?

Comment [VKC14]: If the colors are so contrasting, then why is it hard to make out the painting?

Comment [VKC15]: Why do you think this is? Why does your thesis have equal importance or even greater importance than the other topics?

Comment [VKC16]: Again, place this within the paragraph itself. Also, cut the quotation a little.

Comment [VKC17]: Like what?

Comment [VKC18]: Like what?

Comment [VKC19]: Do you have an example?

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out more since they are black and white. Knowing that this painting Picasso made was about

war, then one could assume that blood is everywhere in this painting. People are dying

everywhere in this painting, so the fact that the blood cannot be distinguished creates a fear and

is almost more terrifying to view than if it were in color. Black and white can hide things through

lack of color but can also create the mysterious fear that it is still there.

One of the reasons that this piece was done in black and white could also be because it

resembles most like a newspaper which was also black and white back then. This painting is

based on the time in Spain where the tyrant Franco reined. Franco, in order to create fear in the

Spanish people, bombed an entire Spanish village named Guernica. Picasso was then

commissioned to do a painting on the event. This painting was created by Picasso in a frantic

fury full of emotion and love for his people who were innocent, yet murdered by Franco. The

color use by Picasso could represent how Picasso found about the bombings of Guernica, simply

through a newspaper article. Through black and white newspaper accounts was how everyone

found out about the event at that time. The pictures that they saw of Guernica after the bombings

were also in black and white which also could have influenced Picasso’s color choice. Picasso

may have had some inspiration from those photos and movies of the bombing leading him to

paint the Guernica in black and white. The pictures of Guernica in the news on the day of the

bombing are all at night with Guernica burning in the dark, but the event happened in the

morning on that day. Picasso’s painting shows the scene of disaster at night where light is

needed, which shows that he may have been mostly influenced by what he saw in the

newspapers to create his masterpiece. Picasso’s use of black and white in this painting not only

helped with the chaos, but also made this painting terrifying and fearful in the eyes of the viewer.

Comment [VKC20]: Good!

Comment [VKC21]: Reword.

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It also created a feeling of a tragic past since it resembles black and white photos of the

disastrous bombing of Guernica.

Markings resembling newspaper print can also be found throughout the painting that can

be better seen up close. These small markings can be found on the white portions of the painting

around the front bottom area. This black and white detail of the painting also gives it a

newspaper quality again representing how he and the rest of the world found out about the

bombing of Guernica. Having this painting in black and white allows the viewer to re-imagine

the scene as if it were in a newspaper article.

Guernica by Picasso was and is such an influential art piece that allows us to understand

the past and the events of Spanish history. Picasso was able to show the disgusting nature of the

bombing and how it affected the people. He was able to do this by creating such a terrifyingly

honest art masterpiece. Picasso used black and white to simulate a newspaper and create sharp,

contrasting edges which helped make the painting more fearful and confusing. Picasso’s lack of

linear perspective or use of cubism to appear flat and two dimensional contribute to the feelings

of disorder in the viewer when seeing this art piece. All of these work together in order to create

the feelings of chaos, but to also to get the point across that this happened, and that it was real.

Appendix:

Comment [VKC22]: Do you have any scholarly sources that back up this claim about Picasso being influenced by black and white photos in the newspaper? If yes, I would include it. If not, maybe try to explain why no one has thought of this idea.

Comment [VKC23]: Reword.

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Works CitedPicasso's Guernica. Eugene B. Cantelupe Art Journal , Vol. 31, No. 1

(Autumn, 1971),

pp. 18-21 Published by: College Art Association Article Stable URL:

http://www.jstor.org/stable/775628 Google Purdue Owl MLA for correct citations

Focus on Black and White, Burton Wasserman Art Education , Vol. 24, No. 6 (Jun.,

1971), pp. 2-4 Published by: National Art Education Association Article Stable

URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3191634

Picasso's "Guernica" in Its Historical Context, Werner Hofmann Artibus et Historiae ,

Vol. 4, No. 7 (1983), pp. 141-169 Published by: IRSA s.c. Article Stable URL:

http://www.jstor.org/stable/1483186

Lucarelli's Guernica: The Predicament of Postmodern Impegno Elena Past Italica , Vol.

84, No. 2/3 (Summer - Autumn, 2007), pp. 290-308 Published by: American

Association of Teachers of Italian

Rachel Wischnitzer, Picasso's "Guernica". A Matter of Metaphor, Artibus et Historiae

Vol. 6, No. 12 (1985) (pp. 153-172) Page Count: 20

Make sure to include all of these sources in your paper.