Dibujos revolucionarios de José Luis Rey alias Sim

Revolution in Barcelona

Early in the morning of July 19, 1936, José Luis Rey [Vila, aka Sim], a commercial artist living in Barcelona, was awakened by the sound of gunfire. Rushing out into Corcega Street, he saw the first skirmishes of the battle between the rebelling army adherents of Fascist General Franco and the citizens of Barcelona. Back to his room dashed José Rey, grabbed his pencil and paint, and spent the rest of the day crouching in the precarious shelter of doorways, sketching Barcelona’s successful defence against the army. These sketches and others made in and around Barcelona have been published by Leftist organizations [ie CNT-FAI] which rule Barcelona in Impressions of the Spanish Revolution of July 19. From this book the water colors and the captions on these pages have been taken. Frankly propaganda, the book tries to show that «the revolution is not all one mass of grey. It also possesses its moments of color … youth, joy, enthusiasm.» The color if vivid but bloody, and the joy is grim. But the artist has caught, with splashing colors and urgent lines, the overpowering enthusiasm of a people fighting for a Cause.

[22/2/1937]