Courbet << koor BEH >>, Gustave (1819-1877), a French painter, helped found the Realist movement in art. When Courbet began his career, the dominant art styles in France were Neoclassicism and Romanticism. Neoclassical artists chiefly portrayed historical subjects in a classical style. Romantic artists stressed dramatic and exotic themes. Courbet believed art should show the people and events of the time realistically and honestly, without seeking to idealize or dramatize.
In 1850, Courbet created great controversy when he exhibited two of his most important paintings, A Burial at Ornans and The Stonebreakers. These paintings portray rural society in its native setting. Many urban viewers objected to Courbet’s perceptive treatment of rural people. Painters of the time had been portraying these people sentimentally or as inferior to the urban middle and upper classes. In A Burial at Ornans, Courbet painted the peasants and clergy life-sized. During this period, the peasants had become an important political force. Courbet’s portrayal of this new force disturbed conservative critics.
Jean Desire Gustave Courbet was born on June 10, 1819, in Ornans, near Besancon. In 1840, he moved to Paris. Courbet sympathized with revolutionary movements devoted to ending the French monarchy. He supported the Revolution of 1848. Later, he became a member of the Commune, which governed Paris briefly in 1871. After the Commune fell, Courbet was imprisoned and fined for his political activities. In 1873, he went into exile in Switzerland. He died on Dec. 31, 1877. Courbet’s paintings influenced such major art movements as Naturalism and Impressionism.
