Peinture criminelle 4–56 and 5–56, Armando, 1956
paint, h 122cm × w 91.8cm
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© Armando
A decade after the Second World War, Armando embarked on a series of paintings about the criminal nature of war, with a gritty surface resembling clotted blood and grimly grinning heads. His view of man offered little hope and he was accused of ‘nihilism.’ This was a serious charge in the Cold War era because it would undermine the morality of the free West, playing into the hands of Communism.