Courbet, Gustave_The painters Studio

Gustave Courbet (1819-1877)
Courbet, the father of French realism, was born in 1819 in the provincial town of Ornans. Dissatisfied with the traditional teaching at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, he took lessons at private art academies and taught himself by copying old masters in the Louvre. In doing so, he developed a particular fondness for the work of Caravaggio and Velázquez. Courbet exhibited for the first time at the Salon of 1844. He had radical political views and refused the Légion d'Honneur offered to him by Napoleon III. He was a supporter of the Commune and in 1871 he was imprisoned for complicity in the destruction of the Austerlitz column on the Place Vendôme. Courbet was ordered to pay for the restoration costs and fled to Switzerland in 1873, where he remained until his death in 1877

♦ The painter's Studio ♦
Rightly regarded as a precursor to modern art. Although the painting takes the form of a classical history piece, it is entirely concerned with contemporary issues: the changing relationship between city and countryside, the need for a new understanding between the artist and the everyday world of ordinary men and women, the place of art in the broad spectrum of political, social, and cultural ideas that were prevalent at the time, the effects of the new, post-revolutionary order on the stability of everyday life.

But it was also a highly personal work. Courbet described the painting as a “true allegory, summarizing seven years of my artistic and moral life.” The symbolism of the painting is compelling; it is meant to be interpreted.

The viewer's attention is immediately drawn to the nude figure to the right of the painter: not an idealized beauty, but a woman depicted with all her imperfections.
A second nude, to the left of the painter and the canvas he is painting, is placed in semi-darkness and is less clearly visible. It is a type of nude that was commonly used in academies at the time, in an unnatural pose.
This second nude, in this case male, has been literally and deliberately placed in the shadows by Courbet.
Courbet considered the world around him to be more important than the world of art. He clearly expresses this in his painting. What mattered was the true artist's eye, symbolized by the passionate sketching figure to the right of the female model.

For Courbet, the world around him meant more than what the art world of the time considered worthy of attention.
He painted ordinary people, but he also drew friends and acquaintances of importance. The fact that he portrayed so many people from all walks of life can be seen as a clear political statement.

The work is said to be an allegory because virtually all the figures and objects on the canvas have their own meaning.

The composition is set up in a separately elaborated left and right half, with the painter himself in the center, at the easel. The studio as depicted is largely fictional, as is the sketch-like and extremely blurred background, which seems to depict the contours of classical buildings.

- Figures on the left
It has been suggested that the seated man on the left with the hunting dog is Napoleon III, but art historians still disagree on this point. In any case, it refers to Courbet's own passion for hunting. To the right of the hunter, a merchant is promoting his wares to a colorfully dressed juggler and a man wearing a top hat, who was modeled after Courbet's revolutionary grandfather. Behind the hunter on the left, we see a veteran of the French Revolution wearing a light coat, whom Courbet must have encountered frequently in his youth in his grandfather's company.

- Figures on the right
In a small group at the top right, wearing dark glasses and with a receding hairline, we can recognize the anarchist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, a close acquaintance of Courbet, who became famous for his statement that “property is theft.”
To his left is the bearded art collector Alfred Bruyas, who was his patron. On the far right, engrossed in a book and aloof from the scene, sits the poet Charles Baudelaire, with whom Courbet had many polemical discussions: Baudelaire was the prophet of destruction and the beauty of decay, while Courbet preached faith in progress. Baudelaire's mistress Jeane Duval, whom the poet compared to a sorceress, can also be seen, at the back right in a light dress, looking in a mirror.

♦ Realism
This term was coined around 1846 by Courbet and his circle during one of their regular meetings at the Brasserie Andler, near the artist's studio. The term should be seen as the counterpart to naturalism. While naturalism refers to a way of representing the visible world, realism refers to the subject: the representation of contemporary life as it really is, however brutal and disturbing. ♦ Self-portrait
It is striking that Courbet, despite his advocacy of realism, cannot resist depicting himself behind the easel with a certain sense of self-glorification. He places himself squarely at the center, like a master painter, surrounded by a large crowd of people who further emphasize his glory. He portrays himself flatteringly, in profile rather than from behind, which would have been logical. The way he wields his brush is almost majestic. It fits with the image of Courbet as a man who, despite his sympathy for the common people and his aversion to embellishment, was nevertheless quite ambitious.

Perhaps the most striking feature of The Painter's Studio is the way Courbet has ‘dissolved’ the back wall of the studio to allow the interior space to blend into the landscape outside. As he later said, he wanted to make it appear as if the whole world was presenting itself to him to be painted.

Source: John Tompson
wikipedia

Source: John Tompson
wikipedia

Photoos
wikipedia