Courbet : to venture independence

Author(s)

Bibliographic Information

Courbet : to venture independence

Klaus Herding ; translated by John William Gabriel

Yale University Press, c1991

Available at  / 10 libraries

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Note

Includes bibliographical references (p. 197-256) and index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

In this book, one of the leading German social historians of art clarifies various aspects of Courbet's work, provides new information about this leader of the realist school as well as a new interpretation of his work. Courbet is presented as a man of many faces and Herding explains his attraction to various causes in terms of an artistic crisis in the mid 19th-century and not merely as personal instability. He discusses the subliminal social meanings of Courbet's landscape paintings, showing that they provided a way to express his feelings of personal freedom and political independence under the regime of Napoleon III. Investigating the role of colour in Courbet's work, he focuses on the link between technical handling and meaning. Exploring Courbet's late work through an analysis of two previously unknown paintings, Herding shows that it bears a relationship to Impressionist painting with its spontaneous highlights. The final chapter on the caricatures of Courbet's paintings demonstrates how they provide a key to understanding why his art has been the object of violent criticism.

Table of Contents

  • Redeemer and charlatan, subversive and martyr - remarks on Courbet's roles
  • "Les Lutteurs detestables" - critique of style and society in Courbet's "The Wrestlers"
  • "The Painter's Studio" - focus of world events, site of reconciliation
  • equality and authority in Courbet's landscape painting
  • Proudhon's "Carnets Intimes" and Courbet's "Portrait of Proudhon"
  • colour and world view
  • a note on the late work
  • Courbet's modernity as reflected in caricature.

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