Banned

In 1799, renowned artist Francisco Goya y Lucientes published a series of 80 prints called Caprichos, or follies. They were immediately banned because they made light of the Spanish royal family and the church.

Two hundred years later, the series of prints will be celebrated in a collaboration of Grand Valley State University and the Muskegon Museum of Art. The two exhibitions are jointly titled Two Hundred Years of Folly: The Legacy of Goya's Caprichos.

The Muskegon Museum of Art will exhibit a large selection of Goya's original caprichos through January 23. The GVSU Art Gallery will exhibit the works of 12 leading printmakers of today who created works inspired by Goya's own prints. The GVSU exhibit runs through February 18.

Because of Goya's great influence, we decided to invite leading printmakers of today from around the country to create a print in response to Goya's prints, explains Henry Matthews, director of galleries and collections at GVSU and the former director of the Muskegon Museum of Art. The artists include GVSU's own Art and Design faculty member Dellas Henke, Sue Coe of New York City, and the internationally regarded Enrique Chagoya, whose series of eight prints titled Return to Goya's Caprichos are an intriguing contemporary take on Goya's themes.

Chagoya's prints are the most like Goyas because he went to actual Goya prints and updated them, Matthews says. In fact, you look at them and think they are Goya's, but then you notice an airplane or something contemporary.

Goya, who lived from 1746-1828, is considered one of the most important and influential artists of the Enlightenment. His themes in the caprichos are about human folly and weakness, hypocrisy, and superstition. Matthews said those universal and enduring themes make the exhibit an important one for a twenty-first century audience.

He was already 53 when he did this series, at the height of his career, Matthews said. But this was such a new direction for him that it changed him as an artist and affected what he did subsequently.

The Muskegon Museum of Art is open Tuesday through Friday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and from noon to 5 p.m. on weekends. The museum is at 296 Webster in downtown Muskegon. Call 231-720-2570 for more information.

The GVSU Art Gallery is in the Performing Arts Center on the Allendale campus. Hours are Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and from 10 am. to 7 p.m. on Thursdays. Call 616-895-2564 for more information.

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Matthews has launched a new group called Grand Valley Friends of Art and will kick off an annual international art tour with a visit to Spain. The tour has been organized in conjunction with the Goya exhibit. The group will visit artistic sites throughout the country, including the Prado Museum, the Alhambra Palace, the Rock of Gibraltar, sherry vineyards, and the controversial Frank Gehry Guggenheim Bilbao Museum.

Matthews plans future international art tours in Russia, India, Australia and other locations, in conjunction with future GVSU art exhibitions.