Comparing the Innovations of Gustave Courbet to Those of Edouard Manet - Assignment Example

Lecturer: Comparing the innovations of Gustave Courbet to those of Edouard Manet Gustave Courbet is a French artist who lived between June 10, 1819 and December 31, 1877. He was born in the small countryside town of Ornans, adjacent to the French Alps. Gustave Courbet’s paintings epitomized him as an innovator and a risk taker. He is the central figure who facilitated the rise of Realism in the mid-nineteenth century. He rejected the standard and theatrical styles of the French Academy and instead, focused on the physical realism of the objects he saw. Gustave ignored the fact that realism might be bare and tarnished; therefore, he presented the plain truth regarding the objects he saw. In 1850, he showed three paintings at the Combined Salon in Paris. These paintings included The Stone Breakers, The Huge Burial at Ornans and The Peasant of Flagey. The three paintings presented a depiction of rural life and their stylistic execution was in such a way that they would look post‐Romantic’ [Prof. Moore (1), pg.1]. The Huge Burial at Ornans for instance was a major source of hullabaloo. It was a very large painting measuring 3.1 metres by 6.6 metres. The painting depicted the burial of his great uncle at the town of Ornan in September 1848. Gustave in this piece of art presents a real funeral scene. One can clearly see the tranquility and calmness in the painting. Unlike other artists of his time, Gustave did not glorify the setting with flamboyant portrayal of descending angels with God sitting on the throne in the clouds above. This clearly indicates his desire to portray reality. At the foreground, an open grave awaits the coffin while the funeral procession is approaching from the left. Unlike other historical narrative paintings who used models, He uses the actual villagers who were at the ceremony including his sister and mother. This proves his love for realism, which was a major factor that contributed to the “rise of modernism.” In his portrayal of realism, he encouraged other artists to put an end to the norm of creating illusionary images and instead create real images, which represented real life situations. Edouard Manet is another artist who played a major role in the “rise of modernism.” He was born in Paris, France on 23 January 1832. Manet entered into the studio of Thomas Couture together with his friend Antonio Proust. In 1956, he opened his own studio and stopped working in Couture’s studio. As a young and enthusiastic painter, Eduoard Manet abandoned the teachings he had learnt from Thomas Couture and began painting in his own style. He followed his own preferences regarding visualization and understanding. He viewed himself as a realist and categorized his work as truthful. His disregard towards the revered rules taught in painting schools highly influenced the idea of realism [Prof. Moore (2), pg.1]. In 1865 at the Paris Salon, Eduoard Manet presented two paintings, Olympia and Jesus Insulted Par les Soldats’. Olympia caused a lot of controversy and viewers at the Salon wanted to destroy the painting but application of physical restriction stopped them. In this period, the name Olympia in Paris was associated with prostitutes. Manet angered people for his direct portrayal of prostitution that was widespread at that time although people never talked about it in open. In the painting, a young nude girl, Olympia, rests on white linen in a black background and the head of a Negress carrying a bouquet of flowers in this black background [Prof. Moore (2), pg.9]. Unlike other artists in the 19th century who would correct the image of such a girl, Eduoard Manet was a realist and therefore portrayed the truth like in this case where he portrays the real Olympia. By creating real and original paintings that portrayed the real picture as it is in the society, Manet led to the “rise in modernism”. Many artists by following his footsteps in their artistry could now tackle issues that affected the society by displaying objects as they are in reality. Gustave Courbet and Eduoard Manet are two great artists of the 19th century who played very significant roles in modernizing art. Modernity main concern was portrayal of life as it actually is instead of portraying representations that idealize the past. Courbet and Manet role in modernizing art means that they followed almost a similar approach in their work. They used similar painting techniques; there is evidence of brushstroke in their works. This was unlike other paintings of their time, which wanted to distract the viewer from the impression that they were staring at a painting by concealing brushstroke. Courbet and Manet used a similar style of creating paintings. They both ignored the tradition of creating illusionary objects that exist above reality; they embraced the idea of realism. Manet creates paintings that seem to contain numerous details from Courbet’s paintings. There are stylized postures of figures and projection of motionless life elements in the foreground of most paintings by Manet, these details seem like a reappearance of Courbet’s paintings since they are very similar. For instance, the boat in the Dejeuner by Marnet corresponds to the craft in Courbet’s Young Ladies on the Banks of the Seine (Paul, pg.11). The way these two artists responded to critics was quite similar, it seems like they had the idea that their works would cause controversy. They continued their idea of realism in all their paintings and disregarded what most people perceived of them. Their status as innovators of their time placed them in similar situations; they had to withstand abuse and humiliation by the public as they championed modernization. Both Courbet and Manet in their paintings, they try to portray every aspect of reality of the object. However, there is one aspect deployed by Manet that creates the difference. In his paintings, he lets light dominate his work making it look more dazzling and glowing. Impressionism is the name that described this style of painting. This therefore separates him from Courbet. Both of them modernize art by embracing realism, but Manet plays another role in linking realism to impressionism. Work Cited Prof. Moore (1), Max Buchon (c. 1819-1869) on Courbets Stonebreakers and Burial at Ornans. Prof. Moore (2), Courbet, Manet and the Route to Modernism Paul Hayes Tucker: MANET’S LE DEJEUNER SUR L’HERBE. Cambridge: University Press, 1998. http://metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2008/gustave-courbet http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/larger-than-life-31654689/?page=1 Read More