THE RETURN

A Homage to the Veterans of the International Brigades on the 50th Anniversary of the Spanish Civil War

60" X 84" / 152,4 cm. X 213.4 cm.
Oil and sand on canvas
1986-1988

Collection: ABRAHAM LINCOLN BRIGADE ARCHIVES
Tamiment Library & Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY

Twenty-seven veterans of the International Brigades which participated in the defense of the Spanish Republic against the fascist forces of General Francisco Franco during the civil war of 1936-1939 are portrayed as theyappeared on the stage of Madrid's Palacio de Congresos y Exposiciones on 19 October 1986 when they were honored by Spanish authorities in commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the conflict. Some hold red carnations handed to them by young girls.

On the upper left quadrant there emerges from the sepia background a contingent of young volunteers as they might have looked upon disembarking in Barcelona in 1937. On the upper right there bursts an abstraction of the flag of the Spanish Republic.

On the lower left the call to arms from Dolores Ibárruri, La Pasionaria:

"Better to die on your feet than to live on your knees."

¡PRESENTE!
Front row (left to right)

Sam Slipyan
Sam Gonshak
Abe Smorodin
Ruth Davidow
Louis Lefkowitz
Julio López
Blas Padrino
Moe Fishman

Center row

Anthony Toney
Len Levinson
Unidentified Mac~Pap
Eddie Balchowsky
Sam Walters
James Yates
Matti Mattson
John Tisa
Bill Van Felix
Bengt Segerson (Sweden)

Top row

__ Boyd (Scotland)
Harry Fisher
Al Prago
Steve Nelson
Bill Bailey
Lou Gordon
Milton Wolf
Charlie Nusser

"The Return" hangs in New York University's Tamiment Library & Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives,
home of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives (ALBA)

LETTER FROM ARTIST / BRIGADE VETERAN
ANTHONY TONEY
"...echoes the Rembrandt tradition."

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