Jean DÊsirÊ Gustave Courbet

Ellen Walker

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Jean DÊsirÊ Gustave Courbet

Informations

• Publié par: asoviraj
• Nombre de lectures: 162
• Langue: Français
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

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Jean Désiré

Gustave Courbet

(1819-1877)

Best known as an innovator in

Realism

Courbet was a

painter of figurative compositions, landscapes and

seascapes. He also worked with social issues, and

addressed peasantry and the grave working conditions of

the poor. Courbet believed the Realist artist's mission

was the pursuit of truth, which would help erase social

contradictions and imbalances.

For Courbet realism dealt not with the perfection of line and form, but entailed

spontaneous and rough handling of paint, suggesting direct observation by the

artist while portraying the irregularities in nature. He depicted the harshness in

life, and in so doing, challenged contemporary academic ideas of art, which

brought the criticism that he deliberately adopted a cult of ugliness.

One of Courbet's most important works is

Burial at Ornans

, a canvas recording

an event which he witnessed in September 1848. Courbet's painting of the

funeral of his grand uncle became the first masterpiece in the Realist style.

People who had attended the funeral were used as models for the painting.

Previously, models had been used as actors in historical narratives; here Courbet

said that he "painted the very people who had been present at the interment, all

the townspeople". The result is a realistic presentation of them, and of life, in

Ornans. The painting caused a fuss with critics and the public. It is an enormous

work, measuring 10 by 22 feet depicting a prosaic ritual on a scale which

previously would have been reserved for a religious or royal subject.

Eventually

the public grew more interested in the new Realist

approach, and the

lavish, decadent fantasy of Romanticism lost popularity. The artist well

understood the importance of this painting; as Courbet said: "The Burial at

Ornans was in reality the burial of Romanticism."