Gustave Courbet was one of the most powerful painters of the 19th century and also one of the most complex. Opposed to the idealism propagated by the Academy, he painted the true and the real. Deeply attached to his native Franch-Comté, he represented its landcape without artifice. He was considered a revolutionary less for the subjects that he painted than for the way that he painted them, depicting scenes of modern life on the large scale previously reserved for history painting. A painter of landscapes, portraits, and still lifes, Courbet contributed to the renewal of history painting with his large manifesto paintings of the 1850s as well as his similarly scaled paintings of the hunt. He was also a painter of the sensuous and the licentious, as The Origin of the World, one of his best-known works, attests. But Courbet the artist cannot be separated from Courbet the citizen and and militant. His involvement in the Paris Commune of 1871 led to his imprisonment and subsequently his exile. This drama unsettled the last years of his life and played out in his work as well. This volume presents a retrospective on Courbet’s complex life and oeuvre, and analyzes his connections to the work of other artists, from the old masters to the paintings and photographs of his own time. Since the middle of the 19th century, Courbet has exerted a profound influence on other artists, including contemporary artists. Featuring works from public and private collections in the U.S. and abroad, this volume serves to enrich the reader’s understanding of the seminal oeuvre of this pioneering figure in the history of art.

477 pages, 500 full-color illustrations. 9 in. x 12 in. Available in hardcover (clothbound, with jacket).

Gustave Courbet, Hardcover
03-021466
Member Price: $40.50 each
Non-Member Price: $45.00 each


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