Trece estampas da traizón. 80 anos da publicación (Trece estampas da traizón. The 80th Anniversary of Its Publication) focuses on Luis Seoane’s book of illustrations (Trece estampas da traizón – Thirteen Pictures of Treason), which was published as part of the propaganda efforts that the Spanish Republic conducted overseas during the Civil War. The book comprises thirteen drawings by the Galician artist –fourteen if we count the cover– where he denounced the names of the people responsible for the 1936 military coup and drew attention to the suffering of the population caused by the war and the subsequent acts of repression.
The exhibition looks into how the work of artists like George Grosz or Frans Masereel influenced Luis Seoane when he was making this book. It gives visitors more information about the context, through a selection of books, documents and artworks that show how other artists also supported the Republic –Castelao, Maruja Mallo, Arturo Souto or Manuel Colmeiro–, and it includes a selection of books from Seoane’s private library, on loan from the Royal Galician Academy. The exhibition has been curated by María Antonia Pérez Rodríguez and Silvia Longueira Castro. Using photographs, posters and press clippings from newspapers like La Vanguardia, ABC or La Voz de Galicia, and other sources, their research throws light on relatively unknown facts from that period, like how the Galician people strongly opposed the military coup, which is something that the fascists always tried to hide.
13 estampas da traizón. 80 anos da publicación will include an AV piece to round out the exhibition, and a series of panels where different experts will analyse the most significant aspects of Luis Seoane’s work and of its historical context.