They Still Draw Pictures: Children’s Art in Wartime from the Spanish Civil War to Kosovo, curated by Anthony Geist and Peter Carroll, consists of 49 drawings created by Spanish refugee children and 23 children’s drawings from other wars, including World War II, Bosnia, Kosovo, Chiapas, and other military confrontations. The exhibit also contains eight archival photographs, including four by Robert Capa, and accompanying wall text.

Available as a traveling exhibit. To download the exhibit catalog click here.

Exhibition details

United States:
The complete version of They Still Draw Pictures consists of 49 drawings created by Spanish refugee children and 23 children’s drawings from other wars, all largely in facsimile, including World War II, Bosnia, Kosovo, Chiapas, and other military confrontations. The exhibit also contains eight archival photographs, including four by Robert Capa, and accompanying wall text. All pieces are framed and ready to mount. Requirements: 180-200 linear feet.

 

The unframed version of the exhibit, suitable for display in document cases, consists of the 49 drawings created by Spanish refugee children, plus wall text ready for printing in the format preferred by the venue. It also includes mounted, poster-sized reproductions of the eight archival photos, including four by Robert Capa.

Subjects include:
Life Before the War
War
Evacuation
Life in Camps and Colonies
Life After the War

Spain:
La versión de Y siguen dibujando: Arte procedente de las Colonias Infantiles durante la Guerra Civil Española, disponible actualmente en España, consiste en 49 dibujos en facsímil hechos por niños republicanos entre 1937 y 1938, dispuestos cronológicamente en cinco apartados: Antes de la Guerra, Guerra, Evacuación, La Vida en las Colonias, Después de la Guerra. Incluye ocho fotos de archivo (cuatro de Robert Capa) y seis textos introductorios (uno general y los correspondientes a los cinco apartados), todos enmarcados. Ocupa aproximadamente 40 metros de pared.

Camps and Colonies by Dorothy Parker

Dorothy Parker, “No Axe to Grind,” Volunteer for Liberty (November, 1937)

“I have seen some of the colonies. There is no dreadful orphan asylum quality about them. I never saw finer children – free and growing and happy. One colony was in a sea-side resort, near Valencia. There were sixty children, from four to fourteen, who had been going to a school in Madrid. And the fascist planes bombed the school…”

“It was amazing to see how many of these children could draw and draw well-and it was heartening to see how their talent was encouraged by the teachers. When they first came to the colony, the children drew the thing that were nearest and deepest to them-they drew planes and bursting bombs and houses in flames. You could see by the dreadful perfection on detail, how well they knew their subjects. Now they are drawing flowers and apples and sail boats and little houses with smoke coming out of the chimneys. They are well children now.”

 

Exhibit schedule

April-July 2013, The Works: Ohio Center for History, Art and Technology, Newark, OH

May 2011, UW Study Center, Leon, Spain

October-November 2010, La Casa Aboy, San Juan, Puerto Rico

September-October 2009, Centro Cultural Pablo Torriente Brau, Havana, Cuba

August-September 2009, Alachua County Library District, Gainesville, Florida

March-June 2008, Drew University, Madison, New Jersey

April 2007, ’62 Center for Theatre and Dance, Williams College, Williamstown, MA

May-August 2007, Cervantes Institute, New York City

November-December 2007, TBU Art Space, California State University, Chico

May-June 2006, Cervantes Institute, Moscow, Russia

March-April 2005, Jacob Lawrence Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle WA

February-March 2004, AXA Gallery, New York City

January-March 2003, Zoellner Art Center, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA

April-June 2003, Hood Museum, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH

August-October 2003, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL

October-December 2002, University of California, San Diego