Herschel B. Chipp
Herschel B. Chipp (New Hampton, MO, 1913 – San Francisco, CA, 1992) was a critic, art historian and professor at the University of California, Berkeley. As a specialist in Cubism and the work of Pablo Picasso, Guernica was at the heart of his areas of artistic and academic interest – the work was the subject of his study Picasso’s Guernica. History, Transformations, Meanings (1968) - and he was also editor of the acclaimed Theories of Modern Art. A Source Book by Artists and Critics (1968). The day before Franco’s death, Chipp argued for the painting’s presence in Spain in The New York Times, re-opening the debate which would culminate in the transfer of the canvas in 1981.
Herschel B. Chipp served in the US Navy and was in Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 when the Imperial Japanese Navy bombed the US naval base. Although Chipp started his career in the field of design, it wasn’t until after the Second World War that he began to study art. Between 1951 and 1952 he was awarded a study grant at the University of Paris-Institute of Art and Archaeology, before later studying his PhD at the University of Columbia, writing his thesis on French Cubism under the guidance of his thesis director, Meyer Schapiro, a reputed historian and participant in the critical history of Guernica.
Perhaps his first-hand experience of the horrors of the bombing saw him emotionally connect with Picasso’s painting and he devoted a significant part of his investigations to the artist and work, resulting in the publication of a key monograph: Picasso's Guernica: History, Transformations, Meanings (1968), which contextualises the days leading up to the bombing of the Basque city and the Spanish Civil War as well as the painting’s process of creation. The Chapter titled “Guernica as a history of the world” analyses the painting’s odyssey around different museums, its progressive place in the history of art, and its meanings and political relevance.
On 19 November 1975 Chipp’s article “Time for Guernica Repatriation” appeared in The New York Times, in which he argued that, with the death of the dictator Francisco Franco fast approaching, it was time to respect Picasso’s wish for the painting to return to Spain once the Spanish people had recovered their democratic freedom. However, the reaction by William Rubin, director of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, was one of indignation - in all likelihood in an attempt to keep the painting rather than out of true concern - as he asserted that Picasso had always made reference to the restoration of a republic. At that point, the debates over the legitimacy and ownership of the painting took a definitive turn. In Chipp’s view its transfer to Spain was vital and in his article he felt its return could go some way to “heal the wounds” of the Civil War.
