Gustav Courbet was a French artist and painter born in 1819. He is known for rejecting the aesthetic values of the time he lived in and becoming an innovator in the 19th century art movement called Realism. Later on his statements and freedom became an example for future generations of artists.
Courbet was creating his art during the peak of the Romanticism movement. This movement originated in Europe during the end of the 18th century and was exploring the romantic side of life, feelings, emotions and their expression. During this period artists were creating pieces based on religious and sensuous topics, themes from the Renaissance period became idolized. Composition started to become more dynamic, paintings more ambitious and colors more vivid and bright. The painting style changed from restrained to more free and pictorial.
On the contrary, Courbet's art was nothing like the art of Romanticism artists. In his pieces there was no glorification of Renaissance or highly dramatic topics. Instead, he was focusing on everything around him-people, landscapes and history. Through his art he was showing the life of ordinary people at the time he lived in. Thus, Courbet was claimed one of the most influential Realism painters in his time.
When showing his art to the public, Courbet on the one hand was met with lots of criticism and hate towards his art, but on the other hand he was also claimed to be one of the best and revolutionary painters of his period.
In 1861, Gustav Courbet wrote ‘The Realism Manifesto’. He wrote it as an introduction to his personal exhibition. In it he explained his point of view regarding art and he also claimed that ‘...For an artist art or talent can only be a way of applying his own personal abilities to the ideas and objects of the time in which he lives’ (Obelisk Art History, 2022).
If we take a look at Courbet's art, the idea of painting the real world around as it is can be applied to all of his works. As an example we can take a look at the 1865 Jo, La Belle Irlandaise. An oil painting, which is a part of a series of four paintings with slight variations depicting a redhead woman looking into a mirror. The woman in the painting is Joanna Hiffernan, a model and mistress of Gustav Courbet’s pupil- James McNeil Whistler.
In my opinion, in this piece Courbet was trying to capture the beauty of Joanna Hifferman without any exaggeration or unnecessary elements. He carefully painted all of the details: reflected light on her long red hair, the subtle freckles and blush on the face, the elegant hands holding the mirror and brushing the hair, and the ruffles on the apron. Courbet really managed to show the people and beauty of his epoch through the painting.
Obelisk Art History LLC (2022). Art history project.
Available at: https://arthistoryproject.com/artists/gustave-courbet/realist-manifesto-an-open-letter/
(Accessed 15 November 2022)
