Pomiędzy płótnem a ekranem : inspiracje twórczością Goi w kinie hiszpańskim

Abstract

The work depicts artistic output of Francisco Goya y Lucientes as a source of inspiration in the Spanish cinema by basing on the examples of 81 films from the years 1926—2011 (among which only 14 were distributed in Poland). Most of them are feature film, but there are also documentaries, TV series’ as well as animations. The aim of the book is to show — on the ground of film studies — how the perception of Goya in his homeland has been changing in consecutive stages of history, and how, also thanks to the cinema, he has been transfromed into an icon of Spanishness. The methods applied by the author are typical for comparative cultural studies, and they can be inscribed in the current of studies on intertextuality in film. A comparative analysis gathering the disciplines of cinema and painting, concentrates on both the meaning of an artwork, functioning in various socio-cultural contexts, and the structural aspects that are pertained to its aesthetic layer. Contrary to previous research, the book is the first attempt at such a broad depiction of the subject in question. Up until now, only papers on a short-term basis have been written. Their authors focused on the renderings of the painter on screen. What is dominant among the studies referred to in the book — altogether 350, mainly written in Spanish — are works describing the oeuvre and life of Goya and outlining the role of an artist in the Spanish culture as well as socio-political conditions of the epoch he lived in. It was essential to refer to first of Goya’s biographers, and confront their relations with survived letters of the painter. The publications on film and painting correspondence also appeared useful. The same can be said about monographs from the field of history of Spanish cinema. The introduction of the film references’ peculiarities would have been impossible without outlining the context of Goya’s works and their reception in the epochs that followed. Therefore, the first of the book’s three parts constitutes an attempt to highlight those features of oeuvre and life of the artist that became magnetic to filmmakers. The conceptions seeking the origins of film visual imagination in the master’s late works were presented together with the roots of his romantic legend that echoed in all of his on-screen depictions. Also, the issue of national identity has been touched upon, the complex character of which found its expression in Goya’s paintings and his major cycles of graphics. Aside from the map of diverse references that prove constant presence of the painter in the culture of his country, the inspiration of Goya in the areas of visual arts, literature and music has also been shown. The purpose of the above was to depict the references in the films as a part of particular cultural continuity. On thus drawn background the subsequent parts of the work has been presented, which were devoted to film studies research as such. In the second part, three main currents according to precise source of inspiration have been distinguished. The first one concentrates on the figure of Goya himself, recurrent on screen as a main character of biographical films, but also as a supporting character in historical films. The second one is the war of independence, iconography of which is frequently present in tales about other conflicts as well, especially the Spanish Civil War. The third area of inspiration is constituted by varying social contexts — ranging from the images of monarchs and aristocracy to that of poverty and superstition, through bullfighting, scenes of folk’s life, religious motives, Inquisition, marriage, prostitution, and insightful analysis and critique of morals. From such a division of film thematic reminiscences result three main functions of painting inspirations in cinema. Aside from biographical aspect, they are: using oeuvre in rendering the climate of a given epoch in historical films, and placing a painting or a graphic in another contexts, in which they gain new, often surprising meaning and prove the universality of the artistic vision. The analysis of the film material have let us concurrently highlight the changes in perceiving Goya reflected by the cinema largely connected to transfromations in the sphere of politics. In the age of silent cinema, before the civil war, a given artists’ works helped to build a colourful image of Spain from the period of the 18th and 19th centuries, intertwined into national and political threads. The films created after 1939 were subdued to Fracoist ideology in both presenting the painter image and selective version of his oeuvre, restricted in that time to pastoral images from the folk’s life and early religious paintings. On the other hand, Goya’s later works were a source of inspiration to opposition directors who created their films at the twilight of dictatorship or in the first years after Franco’s death. The period after establishing democracy did not put down the need to confront works of the great painter from Aragon, still accompanying filmmakers in their reflection on past and contemporary Spain. The last part of the book, similarly as in the case of thematic threads, can be treated as kind of general conclusion devoted to aesthetic issues. Thus, the following topics have been discussed: utilizing portraits by Goya in depicting historical figures, the role of requisites taken from his paintings and graphics, the scenery functions in the artist’s oeuvre and its influence on shaping filming space. The question of shot composition has been discussed as well as the problem of frame, colour and chiaroscuro nuances, and the particular types of references — the formula of “alive painting”, intertextual punctum, quasi-quotes and cinema-painting. The above have undergone metamorphosis in the subsequent decades of the film history — from being primarily blatant as a painting re-created on screen, towards less and less literal and more and more veiled references. The present studies, designed to show Goya as a painter still relevant today — witness of his epoch, at the same time transcending far beyond it with his thoughts — open a field for further, more precise researches, directions of which were marked out in the book’s conclusion.