Illustrated War Chronicles

Technical advances in photographic processes allowed photography to become the documentary medium par excellence during the Civil War. However, the visual arts also gained significant importance in the task of recording the reality of those years. Due to its portability and ease of execution even under adverse circumstances, requiring only paper and pencil in the most basic cases, drawing was the most suitable form of expression for this purpose.

The growing interest in depicting the events surrounding the conflict led to commissions for artists to create compositions that could also be disseminated in books or the press. This was the case with the hundreds of drawings signed by the Bolivian Arturo Reque Meruvia, many of which were published in the Falangist magazine Photos. Graphic Weekly of Reports. His works illustrated the section “Notes of the Heroic Deed”. With previous experience in the Chaco War (1932–1935), he became a genuine war correspondent.

The drawings are almost entirely centered on men of the Francoist army. Kemer (the pseudonym he used to sign many of his drawings) presented an unfiltered image of combat and soldiers, portraying reality in a direct and literal manner, far from any grandiloquent rhetoric. The originals preserved in the General Military Archive of Ávila are dated and geographically located, allowing for the reconstruction of part of the rebel military activity, as well as providing visuals of certain aspects, such as details of their uniforms or weapons. His creations constitute a thorough graphic chronicle of the war that earned him recognition within Francoist circles and beyond Spain’s borders, with his works appearing in other Falange Española publications as well as in The Illustrated London News.

On the Republican side, the artist Juan D’Opazo created more than a hundred drawings while a soldier in the Republican army. These works, which had a more intimate and personal tone, captured his experiences almost like a visual diary. They should also be considered graphic war chronicles, as they provide an accurate view of life on the front. Some of his compositions were published in Stimulus. The Mouthpiece of the 4th Army Artillery Corps, the regiment to which the artist belonged.

They were just two of many artists, some under commission, others of their own volition, who devoted their unique talents to creating sketches and taking notes to capture events. Their works recorded an extraordinary reality, gaining a valuable documentary worth that adds to their already considerable artistic merit.

IEG