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| Marine Oil on Canvas 50.2 x 61cm 1865 |
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| The Waterspout Oil on Canvas 68.9x99.7cm 1870 |
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| The Gust of Wind Oil on Canvas 146.7x230.8cm 1865 |
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| The Artist's Studio Oil on Canvas 361x598cm 1854 |
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| The Wave Oil on Canvas 63x91.5cm 1869 |
Abigayle Goldstein
9/1/17
Painting 1
Molly Zimmer
Gustave Courbet was a French painter mostly known for being a rebel, breaking the rules of the French renaissance period in favor of a more modern approach to painting. His early career as a painter was in prestigious French art schools doing narrative and figural academic paintings. He became scandalous when he decided to pursue landscapes as his primary passion, a style which had low regard at the time and was usually only pursued to give academic artists a break from from the rigours of academia. Courbet essentially declared himself deviant, separating himself both from the world of academic painting and the power and politics in Paris, instead choosing to live and paint in the Franche-Comté (Free Country) that he was loyal to.
Courbet’s style was to mix an earthy palette and make his landscapes a study of colour and tone, especially focused on light and shadow. He also experimented with gesture and speed, painting in broad swathes with multiple different tools - different sized brushes, palette knives, rags, and his hands - which resulted in a painting that was very textured and didn’t look finished. However, he scraped away paint as he put it on in order to create depth as well as smooth out the surface of the painting. This exploration of texture is what gave Courbet’s paintings a rough look. Courbet tried to combine his many tools in different ways, using them unconventionally to play with new ways of spreading paint on canvas, thus creating the possibility of capturing the landscape as he saw it more efficiently with new techniques.
Works Cited
Courbet, Gustave. “Marine.” Norton Simon Museum, 1865, Norton Simon Museum , Pasadena California, www.nortonsimon.org/art/detail/F.1970.12.P/.
Courbet, Gustave. “The Artist's Studio .” The Kahn Academy , 1854, Khan Academy , Mountain View, California .
Courbet, Gustave. “The Artist's Studio .” The Kahn Academy , 1854, Khan Academy , Mountain View, California .
Courbet, Gustave. “The Waterspout.” The Met, 1870, The Met, New York City.
Courbet , Gustave. “The Gust of Wind .” The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston , 1865, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas.
Morton, Mary, et al. Courbet and the Modern Landscape. J. Paul Getty Museum, 2007.
I am happy to see that you picked out some of the waterscapes/wave works of his. Great job on your statement, particularly for the inclusion of the kinds of tools that he used, and the use of class vocabulary.
ReplyDelete"The waterspout" painting intrigues me for the neutral and dark toned clouds. It conveys a sense of storm and tumultuous water to me.
The Waterspout is the one that challenges me the most because there's so little variation in the palette but there's still such great line-work and value to help create the necessary differentiation
DeleteCourbet's paintings have an arousing earthy tone to them. They're really relaxing, regardless of how violent the movement of the scene is.
ReplyDeleteI love the dark quality to his paintings, it gives great appeal especially in his waves.
ReplyDelete