The Spanish Civil War at the Zero Hour
The Spanish Civil War at the Zero Hour
Georgia Museum of Art University of Georgia
Pierre Daura created the Zero Hour series after he served under the Republican effort during the Spanish Civil War as a forward artillery observer. The series is significant within his body of work on the account of its subject and style. As an exhibit about the Spanish Civil War, the series is featured alongside his self-portraits during the war, other drawings and engravings, and letters f rom the archive. Pierre Daura’s paintings and the Pierre Daura archives are made possible by a generous donation by Martha Randolph Daura to the Daura Center here at the Georgia Museum of Art. Curators Lillie Madali Intern Giancarlo Fiorenza Pierre Daura Curator of European Art
Pierre Daura (American, born in Spain, 1896 – 1976) Self Portrait with Militia Uniform, ca. 1939 Oil on canvas Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; gift of Martha Randolph Daura GMOA 2003.454
Teresa Macia described the Catalan artist Pierre Daura as “an artist who strove to mirror in his work the concerns of twentieth-century man.” To Daura, art and life were inseparable, often encouraging his viewers to reflect on the “meaning of war and the role which art plays in society, and make us think more deeply about our history.” Until 1939, Daura divided his time between Catalonia, France, and later, Virginia. Daura’s art reflected each stage in his life and the advent of the Spanish Civil War was not an exception. When the Spanish Civil War erupted in 1936, Pierre Daura was drawn back to his native Catalonia. He enlisted under the Republican efforts as a forward artillery observer and was sent to the Teruel front.1 He frequently wrote letters back to his beloved wife, Louise Daura about the harsh conditions at the front. Daura remained at the forefront of the battle until a shot to his left arm and other wounds in his legs rendered him unable to serve. He was sent back to France due to the lack of medical resources in Catalonia. The moment he was able to
help, he began to assist refugees from French detention camps by taking them into his home. Pierre Daura’s experiences in the Spanish Civil War are carefully documented in countless letters, which are available in the Pierre Daura Archives at the Georgia Museum of Art. In addition to his written account, Daura produced a number of selfportraits of himself in militia uniform, portraits of his fellow soldiers, and other works. Notably, he expressed his sentiments about war’s injustice against the innocent in a moving series of engravings entitled Civilisation 1937. During this period Daura also created a series of gouaches entitled Zero Hour. In the vast body of work by Daura, the Zero Hour series stands out in both style and subject matter. In exhibitions concerning Daura and the Spanish Civil War, many have focused on the effects of war on the innocent, specifically the Civilisation 1937 series or his many portraits of soldiers during the war, which were studies of “integritat, generositat, valor, solidaritat.”2 This series glamorizes the machines of war, with its fantastic
Pierre Daura (American, born in Spain, 1896 – 1976) Tank Battle, ca. 1939 Pencil and gouache on paper Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; gift of Martha Randolph Daura GMOA 2003.453
explosions and the dramatic leaps of soldiers across the field. No other series reflects the composition or use of media. In the development of the Daura aesthetic, from the academic style to Post Impressionism and then eventually the Cercle et Carré, the Zero Hour series stands alone. In Tank Battle, the composition is aligned along a diagonal, which starts at the bottom left corner and escalates to the top right corner with the support of the cloud from the explosion (figure 1). At the forefront, a soldier falls to his knees amongst two other soldiers already on the floor. In a letter to Louise published in The Atlantic Monthly, Pierre describes the action of the battlefield: And down upon them rained bullets and overhead zoomed planes, dropping bombs that exploded all around them; and behind them, down the valley, lumbered tanks. The worn out soldiers raced up the hillside, climbed over the parapets, and hung there, exhausted, shouting ‘Hurry! Hurry!’ to those too weary or
too wounded to climb as fast as they. With horror they watched the tanks close in on those caught in the valley, five hundred of them. 3 Recalling Pierre’s account of the battlefield, we can see the action of the event within the painting. Rendered in two tones, the delicate shading of the green is set off by the sketched brown outlines. Behind these figures are a series of soldiers, which documents one soldier’s movements across the field as he ducks into the ground. This figuration is used throughout the canvas. In the middle ground of the composition, we see these figures rendered in a striking yellow, which represent a single figure jumping across the field. Daura includes machines of war in this painting. These green tanks are lit into a bright tangerine as they become exposed to the blast. One tank has the outline of a star on its side, signifying the Communist supply contribution. As the tanks recede into the background, they lose detail and become beige. Soldiers jumping over the tank are rendered in a manner similar to the Futurist Giacomo Balla
Daura with friends after the opening of the first Torres-García Paris exhibition, June 1926. Left to right: Martí, Ramon Jou Senabre, Duran Reynals, Balcells, Daura, TorresGarcía, Puig and Ramon Sastre. Photo: Daura Archives
who in 1912 painted La Mano del Violinista. Movement over the course of time is depicted as multiple images of the figure repeated in different positions throughout the canvas. Linking the Italian Futurist movement to Pierre Daura’s Zero Hour series is a number of artists in Barcelona, among them was Joaquin Torres-García who in 1926 participated in a joint exhibition with Antonio Barradas in Barcelona at the Galeries Dalmau.4 Barradas’s travels throughout Europe exposed him to the Italian Futurist movement: “Barradas’s work reflected his excitement about his recent contact with Futurism and Cubism.”5 Consequently, he developed a movement in Barcelona called Vibracionismo, a movement influenced by Futurism.6 “In 1925 (Daura) met Catalan-Uruguayan painter Joaquín Torres-García through Charles Logasa. Daura organized TorresGarcía’s first exhibition in Paris.”7 The correspondence between Torres-García and Daura was frequent for several years. In fact, together they cofounded the Cercle et Carré movement – a precursor to many of the abstract
movements in the 20th Century art world. Also involved in the Cercle et Carré movement was Luigi Russolo, a member and signatory of the Futurist Manifesto.8 In The “0” Hour, the tank dominates the composition of this painting. The Futurists also emphasized the power of the machine. Here, Daura shows the destructive power of the machine. We see how these machines created a revolution in warfare in the early 20th Century. The machine of the tank dominates the soldiers at the foreground. Tying this painting to Daura’s body of work regarding the Spanish Civil War is a preoccupation with the effect and the repercussions of the war. Also significant in the works relationship to the Futurist movement is Daura’s use of color as he contrasts the army green and earthy tones of the soldiers with a dramatic blast of a violent tangerine orange. The Futurist Manifesto also extended its philosophy to the use of color. Prior to this series, much of Daura’s oeuvre drew inspiration from the French avant-garde. From the latest discoveries from Cézanne to Cubist
Pierre Daura (American, born in Spain, 1896 – 1976) The “0” Hour, ca. 1939 Pencil and gouache on paper Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; gift of Martha Randolph Daura GMOA 2003.452
Detail. Umberto Boccioni (Reggio Calabria, 1882-1916) Il Battesimo (Baptism by Fire), 1915 Charcoal and graphite on laid paper Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; extemded loan from the collection of Giuliano Ceseri GMOA 2003.44E
abstraction, Daura interpreted these developments in art in his own work. What stands out in the Zero Hour series is a strong Futurist influence. There are many reasons why we may connect Daura to the Futurists. Although there are no clear written accounts deliberately stating why Daura would turn to this movement to help develop and express his sentiments of the zero hour, we may conclude that Daura saw in war, what the Futurists hoped to convey in their paintings that reveled in the glory of the machine and new technology. Overall, they sought to start a revolution in the art world, essentially overturning the traditions of the academic style of painting, which many of the Futurists believed especially, Boccioni however would only and ultimately be manifested in the war. According to the Futurist Manifesto of by F. Marinetti of 1909, “We want to glorify war - the only cure for the world - militarism, patriotism, the destructive gesture of the anarchists, the beautiful ideas which kill.� The war, World War I, which many of the Futurists had lost their fate to, caused the remnants of the movement to fizzle off. It was revived
later by Balla, Prampolini to name a few, and now we may regard Pierre Daura amongst them. Macià, T. Pierre Daura (1896-1976). Barcelona: Ambit Serveis Editorials, S.A., 1999: 117. 2 Macià, T., Mendoza, C., Roda, A. M., & Maynou, C. V. Pere Daura 18961976, retorn a Catalunya. Barcelona: Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya, 1999: 80. 3 Daura, L. “The Soldier Returns,” The Atlantic Monthly, June 1938: 33. 4 Morse, J. “Art-Evolucio + Vibracionismo: Torres-Garcia, Barradas and an Art of Higher Consciousness,” Barcelona and Modernity: Picasso, Gaudí, Miró, Dalí. New Haven: Yale University Press; Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2007, 333. 5 Op. cit., 333. 6 Macià, T., Mendoza, C., Roda, A. M., & Maynou, C. V. Pere Daura 18961976, retorn a Catalunya. Barcelona: Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya, 1
1999: 137. 7 Op. cit., 137. 8 From excepts of Cercle et Carré no. 1 (15 March 1930)