| Admin/Biog History | Whilst painting his large oil picture titled Guernica in 1937, the Spanish painter, sculptor and printer, Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) was given a glove worn by one of the victims killed in the bombings in the Basque Country town of the same name in northern Spain. The Spanish Nationalists, led by General Francisco Franco, believed that Guernica was the base of the Republican resistance movement and centre of Basque culture, and so asked the forces of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy for help to defeat them. On 26 April 1937, the town was bombed for two hours and up to three hundred civilians were killed, most of whom were women and children.
Picasso painted the picture in thirty-five days and on completion, it featured in a touring exhibition aimed at raising funds for relief and to raise awareness of the Spanish Civil War. George Daskall, a Bulgarian who worked on the Balkan desk of the BBC's World Service, was an amateur painter and friend of Sewell's. He explained how he was given the glove by Picasso in an essay titled The Story of the White Pigeon and Picasso's Guernica Glove.
During the early 1990s, Sewell contacted two production companies with the hope of making a television programme about the importance of the glove to Picasso. However, there was no interest in the subject and no programme was made.
Material relating to Daskall can be found in: BS/10/5 - Miscellaneous: Papers relating to George Daskall. |
| Description | Includes:
-The Story of the White Pigeon and Picasso's Guernica Glove, written by Daskall
-page of Sewell's notes relating to Daskall, dated 28 September 1990
-three letters from Daskall, dated 6 May-31 August 1991, concerning the provenance of the glove
-two pages of Daskall's handwritten notes and illustrations concerning Picasso's painting of Guernica
-an essay written by Sewell for Daskall, dated 21 August 1991, explaining the importance of the glove to Picasso
-two contact sheets and four black and white photos of the glove
-letter from James Graham, dated 1 May 1991, concerning the photos of the glove
-two letters between Sewell and Robert Morgan, Wall to Wall Television Ltd, dated 6 and 30 August 1991, concerning the possibility of making a programme
-letter from Kent Barker, Kent Barker Productions, dated 6 May, advising that the BBC are not interested in making a programme
-research material
Sewell wrote an article about Pablo Picasso's glove and related material can be found in: BS/5/1/783 - Articles on the Arts, Exhibitions and Reviews: Picasso: Pablo: Picasso's Glove |
| Image Caption | Photograph of the glove from Guernica, undated |