Victimas

Mauricio Lasansky

This work is rare. Thein/Lasansky had no impression to measure, though it is illustrated. This plate was done in Argentina a decade before the Lasansky family left for the U.S. in 1943, wishing to escape the tyranny of Juan Peron. This image would have been dangerous for Lasansky to edition and sell.

"Victimas" is as powerful today as it was in 1935 when it was first done. In a surrealist dungeon a woman clutches a twisted figure, likely her husband, while another family member sits on the floor, his damaged arm taped to a primitive splint. The victims have metal constraints with chains on their right wrists. In the foreground, a figure, probably an "interrogator", grips his hammer. In the background is a cave-like room with coffins and a long stairway leading to the light.

The decade of the 30s in Argentina was called the 'Década Infame' for its military coups, corruption, persecutions, and the collapse of the economy into a full Depression, like in North America and Europe. This decade included three presidents and gave rise to an exodus from the farms to the cities and, in 1943, to strongman Juan Peron.