Gustave Courbet (Courbet Gustave)

(1819-1877)
Born June 10, 1819 at Ornans, near Besanцїon. In his twenties, arrived in Paris for a decade and has developed his own painting style, his contemporaries called him the founder of realism. Ignoring the formal composition and not turning to subjects far removed from reality, taken in the art of Romanticism and Classicism, Courbet wanted to write around the world as he really is. He believed that painting should criticize and correct the defects of society and in this he followed the views of Proudhon. The artist sympathized with the radicals, and during the Paris Commune in 1871 was led by committee decided to demolish the Vendome column as a symbol of the monarchy. Then, being sentenced to imprisonment and a fine of 300 thousand. Franks, fled to Switzerland, where he spent his last years. Courbet died in the Tour de Pelts in Switzerland on Dec. 31, 1877.
Paintings Courbet caused significant political opposition in France, but during the trips to Antwerp, Munich and Frankfurt artist could see that his paintings have success abroad. Because the style of Courbet did not undergo significant changes after 1850, his work is most conveniently categorized by subject. The pictures of one group in a realistic manner depicted by the representatives of various sectors of society: the siesta in Ornans (1849, . Lille, . Museum of Fine Arts), . Burial at Ornans (1850, . Louvre), . Stone breaker (1849, . not preserved, . previously reflected in the Picture Gallery in Dresden), . Atelier, . which the author himself called an allegory of realism (1855, . Louvre), . Village girls (1851), . Bathers (1853, . Both - New York, . Metropolitan Museum of Art), . Return to the vicar of the parish council (1862, . was burned by the owner because of its anti-clerical nature),
. The other group consists of portraits, . which surprisingly accurately the character of the model: A young man with a leather belt, . or self-portrait (1849), . Man with a Pipe (1850), . Mr. Bruhat (1854, . three - the Louvre), . Portrait of Baudelaire (1849, . Montpellier, . Fabre Museum), . Proudhon and his family (1865, . Paris, . Petit Palais), . Naked (1869),
. Last, the largest group of paintings by Courbet - landscapes, seascapes and scenes of hunting, created from the master of creative maturity and stored in various collections and museums. As examples canvases Pirushka hunting (1857, Boston, Museum of Fine Arts), Battle of deer (1859-1861), deer and deer in the woods (1866) and Wave (1870, all three - Paris, Louvre).