Fernando Botero: Art for Human Rights

Compelling works from Fernando Botero's Abu Ghraib series.

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Fernando Botero: Abu Ghraib 8, 2004; sanguine on paper; 15 ¾ x 11 3/4. in.; BAMPFA, gift of the artist.

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Selected Exhibition Objects

Drawing
Abu Ghraib 08

Fernando Botero

2004
sanguine on paper
15 3/4 x 11 3/4 in.
University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive; Gift of the artist
2009.12.7
Painting
Abu Ghraib 65

Fernando Botero

2005
oil on canvas
18 7/8 x 13 in.
University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive; Gift of the artist
2009.12.40
Drawing
Abu Ghraib 20

Fernando Botero

2005
watercolor and graphite on paper
15 3/4 x 11 3/4 in.
University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive; Gift of the artist
2009.12.14
Drawing
Abu Ghraib 31

Fernando Botero

2005
graphite and sanguine on paper
15 3/4 x 11 3/4 in.
University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive; Gift of the artist
2009.12.16
Painting
Abu Ghraib 67

Fernando Botero

2005
oil on canvas
16 7/8 x 13 3/4 in.
University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive; Gift of the artist
2009.12.42
Painting
Abu Ghraib 71

Fernando Botero

2005
oil on canvas
14 5/8 x 17 3/4 in.
University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive; Gift of the artist
2009.12.44

Past Films

Fernando Botero: Art for Human Rights

Fall 2016

In 2003, the press published reports uncovering numerous human rights violations by US military and intelligence personnel against detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. The shocking accounts and images of torture at the prison inspired the internationally acclaimed Colombian artist Fernando Botero (born 1932) to produce the torrent of powerful paintings and drawings that became his Abu Ghraib series. These graphic and compelling images of detention and imminent physical and psychological threat are still charged with the memory of horrifying prisoner abuse.

This presentation focuses on works that show no distinguishing facial features: the prisoners’ heads are mostly covered by bags or blinders, or turned away from the viewer altogether. In Botero’s paintings and drawings, the act of hiding the subjects’ faces becomes a comment on conditions at the prison, where men, women, and children were treated as less than human. These works are part of a gift of fifty-six works from the Abu Ghraib series that the artist generously donated to BAMPFA in recognition of Berkeley’s historic role in the arena of human rights.

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Fernando Botero: Art for Human Rights is organized by Lauren R. O’Connell, curatorial associate.

Fernando Botero: Art for Human Rights

Selected Exhibition Objects

Abu Ghraib 08

Fernando Botero

Abu Ghraib 65

Fernando Botero

Abu Ghraib 20

Fernando Botero

Abu Ghraib 31

Fernando Botero

Abu Ghraib 67

Fernando Botero

Abu Ghraib 71

Fernando Botero

Past Films