COURBET, GUSTAVE

born June 10, 1819, Ornans, France died December 31, 1877, La Tour-de-Peilz, Switzerland French painter and leader of the Realist movement. Courbet rebelled against the Romantic painting of his day, turning to everyday events for his subject matter. His huge shadowed canvases with their solid groups of figures, such as The Artist's Studio (1855), drew sharp criticism from the establishment. From the 1860s a more sensuous and colourful manner prevailed in his work. Additional reading Georges Riat, Gustave Courbet, peintre (1906), remains a major source on the artist and was written in collaboration with Juliette Courbet, the artist's daughter, who made important documents available to the author. General studies of the artist's life and works include Gerstle Mack, Gustave Courbet (1951, reissued 1990); and Sarah Faunce, Gustave Courbet (1993), which is handsomely illustrated. A more critical study, emphasizing social and artistic issues, is James H. Rubin, Courbet (1997). Petra ten-Doesschate Chu (ed. and trans.), Letters of Gustave Courbet (1992), trans. from French, is a collection of correspondence. Petra ten-Doesschate Chu (ed.), Courbet in Perspective (1977), is an overview of the reception and criticism of Courbet's work.Essays on Courbet's relation to modernism, women, and landscape are offered in Sarah Faunce and Linda Nochlin, Courbet Reconsidered (1988). Among other important critical studies are Linda Nochlin, Gustave Courbet: A Study of Style and Society (1976); T.J. Clark, Image of the People: Gustave Courbet and the 1848 Revolution (1973, reprinted 1999); and Michael Fried, Courbet's Realism (1990, reissued 1992). Focused investigations of specific themes in the artist's oeuvre include Jean-Jacques Fernier et al., Courbet et Ornans (1989); Jean-Luc Mayaud, Courbet: L'Enterrement Ornans (1999); Benedict Nicolson, Courbet: The Studio of the Painter (1973); and Alan Bowness, Courbet's L'Atelier du peintre (1972). The bulletin Les Amis de Gustav Courbet (irregular) features the most recent scholarship on the artist. Major Works: Courbet au chien noir (Courbet with a Black Dog, 1842; Muse du Petit Palais, Paris); Juliette Courbet (1844; Muse du Petit Palais); L'Homme la pipe (Man with a Pipe, c. 1846; Muse Fabre, Montpellier, Fr.); St. Nicolas ressuscitant les petits enfants (1847; glise de Saules, near Ornans, Fr.); L'Aprs-dine Ornans (After Dinner at Ornans, 1849; Muse des Beaux-Arts, Lille, Fr.); Un Enterrement Ornans (Burial at Ornans, 1849; Louvre, Paris); Les Paysans de Flagey revenant de la foire (The Peasants of Flagey Returning from the Fair, 1850; Muse des Beaux-Arts et d'Archologie, Besanon, Fr.); Young Ladies from the Village (Les Demoiselles de village, 185152; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City); Les Baigneuses (1853; Muse Fabre); Portrait de Bruyas (1854; Muse Fabre); La Rencontre ou bonjour, Monsieur Courbet (1854; Muse Fabre;) La Roche de dix-heures (c. 1854; Louvre); Les Cribleuses de bl (The Winnowers, 1854; Muse des Beaux-Arts, Nantes, Fr.); L'Atelier du peintre, Allgorie relle (The Artist's Studio, a Real Allegory of a Seven-Year Long Phase of My Artistic Life, 1855; Louvre); Mre Grgoire (1855; Art Institute of Chicago); Les Demoiselles desbords de la Seine (Young Women on the Banks of the Seine, 1856; Muse du Petit Palais); La Toilette de la marie (The Bride at Her Toilet, 1859; Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Mass.); La Diligence dans la neige (1860; National Gallery, London); Combat de cerfs. Le Rut du printemps (Battle Between Two Stags, 1861; Louvre); The Trellis (c. 1863; Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio); Proudhon et ses enfants (Proudhon and His Family, 1865; Muse du Petit Palais); La Remise de chevreuils (Roe-Deer in Cover by the Plaisir-Fontaine Stream, 1866; Louvre); The Woman with a Parrot (La Femme au Perroquet, 1866; Metropolitan Museum of Art); Les Dormeuses (Sleeping Women, 1866; Muse du Petit Palais); La Source ou baigneuse la source (1868; Louvre); Falaise d'tretat aprs l'orage (The Cliffs at tretat, 1870; Louvre); Mer orageuse (La Vague, 1870; Louvre); Portrait de Regis Courbet (1874; Muse du Petit Palais).