Unsentimental realism

"I maintain," stated Gustave Courbet (1819-1877), "that painting is clearly a concrete art whose existence lies only in the representation of real and existing objects...." Courbet, who influenced and advised the fledgling Impressionists, was an outstanding representative of a naturalistic realism that highlights the contradictions and inequities in society. Revolutionary were Courbet`s style, with dark hues and heavy brushstrokes, and choice of subject—depictions the life of plain people treated in an unsentimental, down to earth manner. His influence was enormous during his lifetime; he was offered the cross of the Legion of Honor in 1872 but he refused it. A man always at odds with authority, be it artistic or political, Courbet became a member of the Paris Commune and was briefly imprisoned and forced to flee to Switzerland for the final years of his life.

About the Series:
Each book in TASCHEN’s  Basic Art Series  features:

• a detailed chronological summary of the life and oeuvre of the artist, covering his or her cultural and historical importance
• a concise biography
• approximately 100 colour illustrations with explanatory captions

The author:
Fabrice Masanès is an art historian and art critic, with a doctorate in art history from the Sorbonne. A specialist in painting, he teaches on 19th-century art in Paris, and the history of medieval Paris at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The author of TASCHEN's Courbet, he has written extensively on literature and the visual arts.

When Gustave Courbet (1819—1877) began his career in the late 1840s, French painting was dominated by two competing styles: neoclassicism, exemplified by Ingres, and romanticism, exemplified by Delacroix. Courbet, a dynamic and boundlessly selfconfident man, proud of his rural origins and guided by his strong Republican beliefs, quickly established a third way. Rejecting the historical and literary subjects of the prevailing styles as too remote from actual experience, Courbet instead depicted scenes of everyday life, particularly among the peasants and the working class, with a naturalism then considered shocking. His paint handling was correspondingly direct: disdaining equally the idealized contours and cool tones of the neoclassicists and the expressive line of the romantics, he laid on his colors almost roughly, often with a palette knife instead of a brush. While Courbet’s brand of realism bears a family resemblance to those of his contemporaries Daumier and Millet, its scope is much broader: his masterworks range from the Burial at Ornans (1850), a heroically scaled depiction of a villager’s funeral, to the very different Origin of the World (1866), a detailed close-up of the female anatomy, and he also painted many straight landscapes, portraits, and still lifes.

This lucidly written monograph from noted art historian Ségolène Le Men provides a new understanding of how Courbet’s life and milieu shaped his vast oeuvre. Le Men organizes her text both chronologically and thematically: while the five chapters correspond to the successive phases of Courbet’s career, each comprises several subsections that discuss individual aspects of his work. This hybrid approach allows Le Men to present an expansive and multifaceted view of Courbet’s realism, emphasizing its evolving relations with the various ideas and artistic currents of its time. With some three hundred stunning color illustrations, including all of Courbet’s most important paintings and many fine examples of his draftsmanship, this is the definitive study of a painter whose spirited pursuit of an independent aesthetic path has led many critics to call him “the first modern artist.”

For more than four decades, she has been at the forefront of the feminist critique of art history, playing a pivotal role in shaping the course of the discipline. Since completing a doctorate on Gustave Courbet in the early 1960s, she has devoted herself to a lifelong study of the artist, arguably the most radical of all nineteenth-century painters and one of the fathers of modern art.

Now, in this extraordinary volume, Nochlin presents her complete writings on Courbet’s work. Every aspect of his œuvre – from his vast realist depictions of provincial French life, allegorical works and paint-encrusted landscapes to his dark, brooding portraits, sensual nudes and earthy still lifes – comes under her scrutiny.

In a specially written introduction, Nochlin considers Courbet’s lasting impact not only on later painting but also on the practice of art history itself. With essays spanning forty years, Courbet is much more than a monograph on a single artist. It is also the story of the intellectual development of one of our leading writers on the visual arts.

Gustave Courbet (1819–1877) is the preeminent representative of Realism and the spearhead of a style of painting committed to socially relevant issues. His lifelike portraits defy the artistic convention of idealization. The painter had another side, however: in his portraits, landscapes, drawings, and still lifes, he depicted a contemplative, meditative, inward-looking world, which stood in stark contrast to the fast-paced industrialization of the period. This publication introduces this “other” Courbet, one who, inspired by German Romanticism, succeeded in creating the vision of poetic modern art, as it was later refined not only by Cézanne and Picasso, but also by the Symbolists and Surrealists. His immersion into the depths of a personality, into the remoteness of pristine nature, as well as his thematization and dissolution of matter are reasons why many contemporary artists still make reference to his work.

Child of materialism and positivism, Courbet was without doubt one of the most complex painters of the nineteenth century. Symbolising the rejection of traditions, Courbet did not hesitate to confront the public with the truth by liberating painting from conventional rules. He became from then on the leader of pictorial realism.

This text on Courbet is the result of years of intensive research and traces with great care contradictory testimonies, the praises as well as the negative critics this controversial painter had during his times. Through his precision as an art historian, Georges Riat sheds new light on the work of this artist who created a real separation with the academicism of the time.

Illustrations: 300 en couleur

Gustave Courbet (1819-1877) est un artiste dont l’art met en jeu le rapport entre l’homme, assoiffé de renommée, et l’œuvre, plus de 1000 peintures aujourd’hui conservées dans les plus grands musées. C’est pourquoi une approche chronologique et thématique a pleinement son sens. C’est autour de lui que se met en place la figure de l’artiste moderne, telle qu’on la retrouve par exemple chez Picasso au xxe siècle, à partir d’une œuvre qui se décompose par périodes : sa ville natale d’Ornans, Paris et les débuts de la « gloire », les voyages (Normandie, Montpellier) et l’attrait de la mer, l’engagement politique au moment de la Commune et, enfin,  l’exil en Suisse où il mourra. Tout au long de son existence, il a provoqué le scandale, le débat, jusqu’à la mise à l’encan. Mais, à côté de son œuvre peint, que complètent dessins et lithographies remarquables, sa correspondance constitue une source essentielle pour aborder le peintre, ses élans, ses rejets et, parfois, ses contradictions.

On a l’habitude de figer Courbet dans une seule étiquette, celle du réalisme. Sans se limiter à cette vision réductrice, la thèse de ce livre est de reconsidérer la place de Courbet dans l’histoire de l’art du xixe siècle, à la croisée des « ismes » qui se mettent alors en place – du romantisme au réalisme, puis au naturalisme et à l’impressionnisme, et même au symbolisme...

A splendid volume featuring the work of Gustave Courbet, the great reviver of French nineteenth-century art, whose lifelike images continue to fascinate a diverse audience.

The life and works of Gustave Courbet (1819–1877) — widely considered one of the most outstanding advocates of Realism — represent a revolt against the academic tradition of painting and conservative politics. Technically masterful, his captivating paintings contrasted the idealization of nature with realistic representation, often triggering downright scandal among his contemporaries.

By examining Courbet’s major works — self-portraits, portraits, genre paintings, landscapes, nudes, hunting scenes, still lives — this splendid volume spans the Frenchman’s entire artistic career and his involvement with politics. Renowned experts shed light on his development of a realistic, critical style, describe his great influence on both contemporaries and later generations, and consider his works in their own art-historical context, as well as his relationship to early photography, which also strove to create a faithful reproduction of reality.