Courbet, Gustave

(1819-1877)

   painter, lithographer

   Born in ornans, the son of farmers, Gustave Courbet in 1840 went to Paris to study art. A most influential and prolific painter, he spent much of his time copying masterpieces in the louvre and was strongly influenced by Théodore géricault and eugène delacroix. A founder, along with honoré daumier and jean-françois millet, of the school of realism, Courbet reflected the romantic influence in his early works. These include an Odalisque (1840), Walpurgis Night (1841), and self-portraits (Self-portrait with a Black Dog, 1842; The Lovers in the Country, 1844; The Wounded Man, 1844), in which he often presented himself in the style of a Byronic hero. He journeyed to Holland and England and, under the influence of socialist ideas, developed a popular and democratic conception of art. After the revolution of 1848, he became a friend of pierre-joseph proudhon and charles baudelaire, and an ardent champion of realism, trying in his work to reflect social realities. In this genre, he painted After Dinner at Ornans (1849); The Stonebreakers (1849); and the enormous A Burial at Ornans (1850). These are polemical works, evoking the daily realities of the people. Courbet also defied convention in another huge painting, The Artist's Studio (1855), which, he explained, was a true allegory of his life. He painted other controversial works, including The Bathers (1853), that was criticized because Courbet tried to liberate the nude form from the idealistic conventions of the age. From 1869 to 1870, he traveled and painted in Normandy with the American painter James Mc Neill Whistler (The Wave, 1869; The Cliff at Étretat after the Storm, 1870) then returned to Paris to give his support to the commune. Placed in charge of the city's art museums by the revolutionary government, Courbet was responsible for saving the city's treasures from looting by the mob. After the fall of the Commune, however, he was accused of allowing the destruction of the triumphal column dedicated to napoléon i in the place Vendôme and, as a result, was imprisoned and ordered to pay for its reconstruction. He fled to Vevey, Switzerland, where he continued to paint until his death.