Botero paintings of Abu Ghraib [CAUTION]

These are obviously disturbing works; you can see others here.

Fernando Botero is Columbian, and it is fair to say he is a major artist, whose work will attract considerable attention, in part because it differs so much from his other works. From GNN: An exhibition of his works will open on June 16, in Rome, and a subsequent showing in Germany is planned.

Botero has said: "The injustice makes my blood boil."

Mr. Botero is obviously not alone in his sentiments. It should go without saying that Abu Ghraib is not going away. Though some were killed in Abu Ghraib, I do not equate the mistreatments there to those of the Holocaust and other genocides and mass killings. We do not know the reality of Saddam's tortures, for example.

However, these and other images of the torture at Abu Ghraib probably constitute a unique record of the horrors of war, imprisonment, and man's inhumanity to man, and, as such will take their place alongside those from death camps and other unspeakable horrors.

More on Botero below the jump

This site has images of the painter as well as of a number of his works. In addition, it contains more of Botero's thoughts:

"He wants the series to be shown in the US, since "the matter concerns that country above all." The paintings will not be sold, but will remain part of his personal collection and loaned to museums which frequently invite him to exhibit, the artist said. "I had no commercial intention in painting these works. I produced them purely to say something about the horror. And since all art is communication, it's more important that they are seen in museums and big public exhibitions than that they are hidden away in the house of a private collector." His aim, he said, was to brand the images on the conscience of the world, in the way that Picasso's Guernica preserved forever the memory of how innocent civilians were bombed during the Spanish civil war."

What luck for rulers, that men do not think.
-Adolf Hitler-

•  the jar n/t

  by seesdifferent on Sun May 15, 2005 at 09:56:43 AM PDT

  •  thanks

    i know Botero's work but haven't seen these. The page is still trying load (why do so many damned sites get hung up trying to load ads or other crap from completely seperate servers? DKOS and anything at blogspot come to mind.)

    Just timed out. Oh well.

    by subtropolis on Sun May 15, 2005 at 10:06:48 AM PDT

    •  Disturbingly powerfull images

      and an important window on the perception and opinion of the US in the world.

      Thanks

      by town on Sun May 15, 2005 at 10:18:26 AM PDT

    •  I could post others if that is a problem

      that is a large site with numerous large images, so I imagine it will overpower conventional phone line modems.

      by seesdifferent on Sun May 15, 2005 at 10:44:23 AM PDT

      •  Editor's Note

        You misspelled Botero's country.  He is Colombian with an O.  Sorry to be picky.

        by drjimcooper on Sun May 15, 2005 at 12:54:02 PM PDT

  •  Freedom: Urinating On Those You Are Freeing

    I was interested in seeing these paintings for the art but also because I thought it might be my first chance to see the torture the media has shielded my delicate eyes from.  Kind of sad that one of the only ways to see how despicable these acts were is to go to an art gallery.

    by arthur on Sun May 15, 2005 at 10:16:48 AM PDT

•  I agree with you

  that this is not going away soon, if ever it does.

  I feel that sometime in the near future with the worlds sees this display of paitings they will agian rise up in arms, just like they did over the Koran being discrimated.  What in the HELL is our military thinking???!!!  ARe they being fed meds to do such a thing without thinking??!!  

  I want to support the troops, but what is it with them that makes me ashamed of what they are doing there??  This is not going away soon, if ever!

  by brenda stewart on Sun May 15, 2005 at 10:25:25 AM PDT

  •  It is difficult to support troops and not war

    I hope that we can devise new tactics. Not to put it all on the families of the soldiers, but I hope they will continue to ramp up their protests. Bush's treatment of them is worse than shameful, imho.

    by seesdifferent on Sun May 15, 2005 at 10:47:08 AM PDT

•  What about Guantanamo, Afghanistan and other

  iraqui prisons?

  Why do people continue to see this as an isolated incident? It is not.

  Botero is a rather famous colombian artist. For decades now, he has been painting traditional subjects (bullfighters, ladies putting on makeup) in his "fat" style. This has worked for him quite well and many of his paintings are just ordinary paintings, without art in them, done fat. With the Abu Ghraib subject he has gotten some fire back. Good for him.

  The US is in the denial: youre country has killed willfully out of nothing but greed and even out of nothing but cruelty. Your military has condoned torture and is becoming an evangelical institution. Your presidential elections were rigged and you are at the verge of fascism.

  by Mr Bula on Sun May 15, 2005 at 10:27:50 AM PDT

  •  thank you for the info and

    ...thanks for the sentiments, which are shared by many of us here in the US.

    by seesdifferent on Sun May 15, 2005 at 10:34:51 AM PDT

    •  my writing was a little harsh

      I know a LOT of people in the US who are aware of what is going on, but the country, as a whole, is in denial. Look at the MSM, they play the fiddle while Rome is burning.

      by Mr Bula on Sun May 15, 2005 at 10:38:07 AM PDT

      •  if I could ask, where are you? n/t

        by seesdifferent on Sun May 15, 2005 at 10:48:19 AM PDT

        •  Bogota, Colombia

          I actually got interested in US politics because of an uncle of mine who went to live in the US (Fla). We sent a perfectly normal human being, we got back a Bush loving, god-invoking, kool-aid sipping golf playing gringo doctor.

          by Mr Bula on Sun May 15, 2005 at 10:54:47 AM PDT

          •  your description of your uncle...

            ...hits disturbingly close to home, for many of us, before the scales fell from our eyes.

            by seesdifferent on Sun May 15, 2005 at 11:00:11 AM PDT

          •  Send him back to Florida

            We deserve him.

            In the meantime, my sympathies and apologies. It's cruel and unusual punishment for you to have to endure a wingnut when you've never even had the chance to vote them out of office.

            by matt n nyc on Sun May 15, 2005 at 11:29:27 AM PDT

            •  Damn.

              You made me cry.

              by litho on Sun May 15, 2005 at 01:59:36 PM PDT

•  Botero

  like his art for many years.
  Thanks so much for the links.

  by nicki37 on Sun May 15, 2005 at 10:44:54 AM PDT

•  No time for a cute title.

  Jesus H.

  For anybody who ain't seen this artist's work before, when I think of Botero's work, I think of affable, comically chunky people, living out the fine, simple Columbian life to the fullest. Unlike Ruebens' cellulite-o-rama, Botero's people are smooth, their brows untroubled, and their surroundings lush and beautiful.

  I don't know much about the artist's other work, but this seems like a SERIOUS departure from this guy's public face. When "happy" artists start reflectin' the ugliness of the world, it's coalmine canary time.

  It's kinda like if the cute li'l Pogo Possum suddenly turned on Sen. Joe McCarthy.

  Oh, wait.

  by The Gryffin on Sun May 15, 2005 at 10:52:38 AM PDT

  •  we have met the enemy....

    ....and he is us.

    right?

    by seesdifferent on Sun May 15, 2005 at 11:01:13 AM PDT

    •  Tangentally off-topic

      That's the one. I found more stuff on Pogo/McCarthy.

      by The Gryffin on Sun May 15, 2005 at 11:45:27 AM PDT

•  slaughterhouse

  They're all pig-like and unattractive. Guards, prisoners, all degraded. I think that's what makes these paintings powerful, they don't really elevate anyone above anyone, these are scenes of pigs bralizing other pigs at a slaughterhouse. They remind me of those dutch stilllifes with dead animal carcasses.

  

  by Elizabeth D on Sun May 15, 2005 at 11:22:54 AM PDT

  •  spot on, imo 8N/t)

    by Mr Bula on Sun May 15, 2005 at 11:29:05 AM PDT

  •  or

    

    "A Meat Stall with the Holy Family Giving Alms" Pieter Aertsen 1551. Some kind of allegory about the weakness of the flesh.

    by Elizabeth D on Sun May 15, 2005 at 11:31:01 AM PDT

  •  Powerful paintings with a late gothic feel.

    They make me think of Hieronymus Bosch

    by reform dem on Sun May 15, 2005 at 12:51:40 PM PDT

•  Paying Attention To Truth Through Art

  The truth must break through.  Art is one way to awaken the public to its humanity and compassion.  He is a courageous man.  Only one painter before him Frederico Francisco Goya painted the "Horrors of War" ("Les Caprichios") , as a record so horrifically real and accurate it could be considered journalism.

  These images are very important.  And the public response to them moreso.  I hope Mr. Botero's work is shown in every major city in the US.
  

  by Apian on Sun May 15, 2005 at 11:37:03 AM PDT

  •  "Guernica" was close

    
    
    although obviously not a realistic painting, Picasso's Guernica was painted in a short time frame in response to an horrific actual event in 1937. Go here for that story.

    by seesdifferent on Sun May 15, 2005 at 12:08:50 PM PDT

  •  Goya for our day

    was my primary thought scrolling through the paintings.

    How easy it was for him to paint Americans as sadistic repressors. The shame. The horror.

    May Bush, Rumsfeld, Sanchez, Gonzalez and their ilk rot in hell.

    by litho on Sun May 15, 2005 at 01:55:46 PM PDT

•  Son Pinturas poderosas

  pero los debujos al fin de "link" son casi tan fuerte...

  I hope the Spanish was good, I did that in honor of Botero.

  For those with no spanish, (or if my spanish was too poor):

  Those are powerful paintings but the drawings at the end of the link are almost too strong...

  by TustonDAZ on Sun May 15, 2005 at 11:55:15 AM PDT

•  Botero

  ESWN has a few more of the paintings, and a story from the Independent that is otherwise subscription-only.

  Thanks for this post.

  by gong on Sun May 15, 2005 at 11:57:37 AM PDT

  •  Great Link! <n/t>

    by TustonDAZ on Sun May 15, 2005 at 12:24:35 PM PDT

  •  thanks I will add...

    a quote to diary from this.

    by seesdifferent on Sun May 15, 2005 at 12:35:24 PM PDT

•  gallery owner beaten

  in SF(liberal navel of the country)for hanging a show with Abu Ghraib imagery.

  http://www.capogallerysf.com/

  The original photographs of Abu Ghraib seem to me even more iconically powerful than the Vietnam era photos of the girl burned with napalm, and the summary execution of a man by pistol in the streets. In the former, the pain and brutality is documented, but the Abu Ghraib photos with their "costumed" humiliations of people bespeak a deep deprivation and suggest that the corollary to irrational fear is unrelenting sadism.

  Like images from the Holocaust, they indicate, in the (very paraphrased) words of (? George Steiner?--from "In Blubeard's Castle" )

  "by relocating hell on earth....."

  (sorry--am victim of a too large & very disorganized library)

  by Miss Devore on Sun May 15, 2005 at 12:26:30 PM PDT

  •  thank you for posting this horrendous story

    ...bringing it home....

    by seesdifferent on Sun May 15, 2005 at 12:43:38 PM PDT

    •  thank you

      for posting the diary!

      by Miss Devore on Sun May 15, 2005 at 12:52:34 PM PDT

  •  fuck...

    ... so did the beater uppers think depictions of REALITY weren't patriotic enough?

    Reality is unpatriotic!

    Ghastly.

    by Mr Bula on Sun May 15, 2005 at 01:10:44 PM PDT

  •  Botero better only show reproductions in the US

    Because, sadly, I think if he shows the originals, they will be destroyed. We are a sick society, and a sad mockery of the great nation we could, and should have been.

    by EsnRedshirt on Sun May 15, 2005 at 01:55:05 PM PDT

•  These works were mentioned in the NY press

  I'll look for the site and post it.

  But the article I saw only had one of his pictures. Nothing like this. They made me gasp.

  I think the article and images should be sent to everyone starting with Rumsfeld (who only understood the gravity of what was happening when they showed him the photos), to Laura Bush, to Condi, to EVERYONE.

  They are so powerful...and make me feel so ashamed. I'd also like to slip one into each car that has one of those support the troops magnet

  by compass rose on Sun May 15, 2005 at 12:28:15 PM PDT

•  Not a huge Botero fan

  but I'm glad to see him doing this series.  I would like to see more wellknown artists do it.

  by ksh01 on Sun May 15, 2005 at 12:43:30 PM PDT

•  New York Times

  May 8, 2005 Sunday

  'Great Crime' at Abu Ghraib Enrages and Inspires an Artist
   By JUAN FORERO

  DATELINE: BOGOTA, Colombia, May 7

  Fernando Botero, Latin America's best-known living artist, shocked the art world last year when he broke sharply from his usual depictions of small town life to reveal new works that depicted Colombia's war in horrific detail.

  Now, Mr. Botero, 73, who lives in Paris and New York, has taken on an even more explosive topic: the torture of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib. Forty-eight paintings and sketches -- of naked prisoners attacked by dogs, dangling from ropes, beaten by guards, in a mangled heap of bodies -- will be exhibited in Rome at the Palazzo Venezia museum on June 16.

  ''These works are a result of the indignation that the violations in Iraq produced in me and the rest of the world,'' Mr. Botero said by telephone from his Paris studio.

  Mr. Botero explained that he had decided he could not stay silent over a conflict he called absurd.

  Now, he said, his indignation over war and brutality may turn up increasingly in his work.

  ''I rethought my idea of what to paint and that permitted me to do the war in Colombia, and now there's this,'' he said. ''And if there's something else that compels me in the future, then I will do it.''

  But with time, and his growing outrage, Mr. Botero said he had become more cognizant that art could and should make a statement.

  He pointed to the most famous antiwar painting of the 20th century, Picasso's masterpiece that depicted the German bombing of Guernica, Spain. Had Picasso not produced ''Guernica,'' Mr. Botero said, the town would have been another footnote in the Spanish Civil War.

  He said he read about Abu Ghraib in The New Yorker, then followed European news accounts.

  Calling himself an admirer of the United States -- one of his sons lives in Miami -- Mr. Botero said he became incensed because he expected better of the American government.

  Mr. Botero said the works being exhibited, and those he has continued to create on Abu Ghraib, were not for sale because it would not be proper to profit from such events.

  No exhibitions in the United States are planned, though Mr. Botero said he would like nothing more.

  ''If any museum wants to show works of torture, well, I would be delighted,'' Mr. Botero said. ''The museum that decides to show it would have to be conscious that many people would be repulsed and be against it.''

  GRAPHIC: Photos: A guard and a prisoner are featured in one of 48 works to be exhibited in Rome.
  A painting, above, in a series by Fernando Botero shows prisoners at Abu Ghraib in Iraq. At right, a dog menaces a prisoner in a drawing from the series. Mr. Botero said that as an admirer of the United States, he expected better of the American government.
  

  by compass rose on Sun May 15, 2005 at 12:48:19 PM PDT

•  when I say Botero is "big,"....

  ...that works on several levels; a "piece" in Barcelona (yes that is a man)
  

  by seesdifferent on Sun May 15, 2005 at 12:48:53 PM PDT

•  Blood boiling as well.

  by Sam Loomis on Sun May 15, 2005 at 01:00:27 PM PDT

•  Just blowing off steam...a fraternity prank

  /rush

  by BlueEngineerInOhio on Sun May 15, 2005 at 01:07:51 PM PDT

•  heartbreaking.......

  I wish I hadn't seen these - and am glad I did (if that can make sense)

  Also take a look at Iraq Uncensored

  by boudicca on Sun May 15, 2005 at 01:31:19 PM PDT

  •  thanks for the link

    we need to see more of what is going on. For those of you with little exposure to trauma victims, a couple of images may be more than a little unsettling.

    by seesdifferent on Sun May 15, 2005 at 01:59:15 PM PDT

•  For related diary today, see

  http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/5/15/165951/437

  by seesdifferent on Sun May 15, 2005 at 02:03:47 PM PDT

•  I will mention something I noticed...

  ...about the image posted here. I think that my comment is not really a criticism, but rather reflects my realization of how astonishingly odd it is to paint a man in this position. I hope I make myself clear.

  now, look at the position of his penis....

  by seesdifferent on Sun May 15, 2005 at 02:13:37 PM PDT

•  when i scrolled down

  and saw these photos my first reaction was to burst into tears.

  by wilfred on Sun May 15, 2005 at 02:23:09 PM PDT

•  Botero and an allusion?

  The paintings remind me of Blake's engravings of slaves being tortured  in John Stedman's "Narrative of a Five Year voyage among the revolted negroes of Suriname"

  see

  http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/collection/international/print/b/blake/images/ipd00111.jpg

  http://www.common-place.org/vol-03/no-04/paramaribo/images/rackcolor.jpg

  by aruac on Sun May 15, 2005 at 03:03:34 PM PDT