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Courbet, A Political Painter?
Are A Burial at Ornans and The Artist’s Studio Secretly Political Paintings?
Gustave Courbet died in exile as a result of his political choices. However, his involvement in the Paris Commune does not justify his reputation as a politically engaged painter. If his paintings were political, they were only understood by those in the know.
Gustave Courbet was an elected official.
He took part in the founding of the Third Republic and served as a representative of the Commune. However, after being found guilty of being responsible for the destruction of the Vendôme Column, he was heavily fined and fled the country.
Chapter 1 - From Painter to Communard
Courbet's famous trilogy challenges convention.
A Burial at Ornans, The Peasants of Flagey and The Stone Breakers, deserves formal analysis. His work on composition and lighting did not respect the pictorial conventions of history painting, causing great scandal and caricature.
Chapter 2 - Courbet's Trilogy, Subject and Form
A thorough analysis of the critical response…
To A Burial at Ornans suggests that the painting went against the established sociopolitical order. Some interpretations, such as those by T.J. Clark and Jean-Luc Mayaud, even suggest that the painting was an insult to Parisians or an encoded political revolt.
Chapter 3 - Political Analysis of A Burial at Ornans
The Artist's Studio can be interpreted as a painting with a hidden message.
It could be a tribute to the ideas of Proudhon, a theorist of anarchism and socialism, or it could be Courbet's version of the Last Judgement. Hélène Toussaint's interpretations make the latter theory seem very credible.
Chapter 4. The Proudhon of Painting, The Artist's Studio
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