Artwork copyright Ellen Sollod. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Past is Prologue (Guernica), 1992

Ellen Sollod
American (born 1951)

Location: Woodward Middle School, Bainbridge Island

About the Artwork

Past is Prologue (Guernica) is part of artist Ellen Sollod’s series of prints that reference different images and ideas in art history. This piece draws from Pablo Picasso’s monumental 1937 painting titled “Guernica.” He created the painting in reaction to the Nazi and Spanish Nationalist bombing of Guernica, a village in the Basque region of Northern Spain. It stands as a powerful statement against the horrors of war. In her print, Sollod combines fragments from Picasso’s painting with forms and images inspired by other well-known, 20th century painters such as Botticelli, Ingres, and Kandinsky. Sollod began this series at an artist residency at Centrum, a center for the arts in Port Townsend, on the Olympic Peninsula in Northwest Washington. She completed the series at an artist residency at the Ucross Foundation in Wyoming.

This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with Bainbridge Island School District.

About the Artist

Seattle-based artist Ellen Sollod creates works on paper, artist books, and large-scale architectural sculptures for public spaces.
Sollod received a Bachelor of Arts degree in art history from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She received a Master of Arts degree from the Institute for Urban Studies, University of Maryland. She has taught at the University of Washington in Seattle and served as a visiting artist at the Maryland Institute College of Art.