Massacre in Korea
Encyclopedia
Massacre in Korea is a 1951 expressionistic
painting by Pablo Picasso
which is seen as a criticism of American intervention in the Korean War
. It depicts the 1950 Sinchon Massacre
, an act of mass killing carried out by South Korean and/or American forces in the town of Sinchon
located in South Hwanghae province, North Korea
. Though the events are still much debated, the victims appear to have been communist sympathizers and North Korean civilians, including a large number of children. Picasso's work is drawn from Francisco Goya
's painting The Third of May 1808
, which shows Napoleon
's soldiers executing Spanish civilians under the orders of Joachim Murat
. It stands in the same iconographic tradition of an earlier work modeled after Goya, Édouard Manet
's series of five paintings depicting the Execution of the Emperor Maximilian
completed between 1867 and 1869.
As with Goya's The Third of May 1808, the painting is marked by a bifurcational composition, divided into two distinct parts. To the left, a group of naked women and children are seen situated at the foot of a mass grave. A number of heavily armed "knights" stand to the right, also naked, but equipped with "gigantic limbs and hard muscles similar to those of prehistoric giants." The firing squad is rigidly poised as in Goya. In Picasso's representation, however, the group is manifestly helter-skelter – as was often apparent in his portrayals of armored soldiers in drawings and lithographs – which may be taken to indicate an attitude of mockery of the idiocy of war.
Their helmets are misshapen, and their weaponry is a mishmash amalgamation of the instruments of aggression from the medieval period to the modern era - not quite guns or lances, they perhaps most resemble candlesticks. What is more, none of them have penises. This representational feature is highlighted by the pregnant state of the women on the left side of the panel. Many viewers have interpreted that the soldiers, in their capacity as destroyers of life, have substituted guns for their penises, thereby castrating themselves and depriving the world of the next generation of human life. During this period, Picasso is believed to have been moving away from his earlier communist ideology
. Alongside with Guernica
, The Charnel House (1944–45), War and Peace (1952), and Rape of the Sabine Women (1962–63) this is one of Picasso's works that he composed to depict the politics of his time.
At 43 inches (1.1 m) by 82 inches (2.1 m), the work is smaller than his Guernica. However, it bears a conceptional resemblance to that painting as well as an expressive vehemence.
Expressionism
Expressionism was a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radically for emotional effect in order to evoke moods or ideas...
painting by Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
which is seen as a criticism of American intervention in the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
. It depicts the 1950 Sinchon Massacre
Sinchon Massacre
The Sinchon Massacre was an alleged mass murder of civilians, communist sympathizers and North Korean loyalists in the autumn of 1950, in or near the town of Sinchon, during the outbreak of the Korean War. Sinchon is currently located in South Hwanghae province, North Korea...
, an act of mass killing carried out by South Korean and/or American forces in the town of Sinchon
Sinchon
Sinchon or Sinchon-dong is a neighbourhood and a judicial dong in Seodaemun-gu in Seoul, South Korea....
located in South Hwanghae province, North Korea
North Korea
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...
. Though the events are still much debated, the victims appear to have been communist sympathizers and North Korean civilians, including a large number of children. Picasso's work is drawn from Francisco Goya
Francisco Goya
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker regarded both as the last of the Old Masters and the first of the moderns. Goya was a court painter to the Spanish Crown, and through his works was both a commentator on and chronicler of his era...
's painting The Third of May 1808
The Third of May 1808
The Third of May 1808 is a painting completed in 1814 by the Spanish painter Francisco Goya, now in the Museo del Prado, Madrid. In the work, Goya sought to commemorate Spanish resistance to Napoleon's armies during the occupation of 1808...
, which shows Napoleon
Napoleon I of France
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
's soldiers executing Spanish civilians under the orders of Joachim Murat
Joachim Murat
Joachim-Napoléon Murat , Marshal of France and Grand Admiral or Admiral of France, 1st Prince Murat, was Grand Duke of Berg from 1806 to 1808 and then King of Naples from 1808 to 1815...
. It stands in the same iconographic tradition of an earlier work modeled after Goya, Édouard Manet
Édouard Manet
Édouard Manet was a French painter. One of the first 19th-century artists to approach modern-life subjects, he was a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism....
's series of five paintings depicting the Execution of the Emperor Maximilian
Maximilian I of Mexico
Maximilian I was the only monarch of the Second Mexican Empire.After a distinguished career in the Austrian Navy, he was proclaimed Emperor of Mexico on April 10, 1864, with the backing of Napoleon III of France and a group of Mexican monarchists who sought to revive the Mexican monarchy...
completed between 1867 and 1869.
As with Goya's The Third of May 1808, the painting is marked by a bifurcational composition, divided into two distinct parts. To the left, a group of naked women and children are seen situated at the foot of a mass grave. A number of heavily armed "knights" stand to the right, also naked, but equipped with "gigantic limbs and hard muscles similar to those of prehistoric giants." The firing squad is rigidly poised as in Goya. In Picasso's representation, however, the group is manifestly helter-skelter – as was often apparent in his portrayals of armored soldiers in drawings and lithographs – which may be taken to indicate an attitude of mockery of the idiocy of war.
Their helmets are misshapen, and their weaponry is a mishmash amalgamation of the instruments of aggression from the medieval period to the modern era - not quite guns or lances, they perhaps most resemble candlesticks. What is more, none of them have penises. This representational feature is highlighted by the pregnant state of the women on the left side of the panel. Many viewers have interpreted that the soldiers, in their capacity as destroyers of life, have substituted guns for their penises, thereby castrating themselves and depriving the world of the next generation of human life. During this period, Picasso is believed to have been moving away from his earlier communist ideology
Ideology
An ideology is a set of ideas that constitutes one's goals, expectations, and actions. An ideology can be thought of as a comprehensive vision, as a way of looking at things , as in common sense and several philosophical tendencies , or a set of ideas proposed by the dominant class of a society to...
. Alongside with Guernica
Guernica (painting)
Guernica is a painting by Pablo Picasso. It was created in response to the bombing of Guernica, Basque Country, by German and Italian warplanes at the behest of the Spanish Nationalist forces, on 26 April 1937, during the Spanish Civil War...
, The Charnel House (1944–45), War and Peace (1952), and Rape of the Sabine Women (1962–63) this is one of Picasso's works that he composed to depict the politics of his time.
At 43 inches (1.1 m) by 82 inches (2.1 m), the work is smaller than his Guernica. However, it bears a conceptional resemblance to that painting as well as an expressive vehemence.