Επιστολή προς τον υπουργό καλών τεχνών

by Gustave Courbet, Λήδα Παλλαντίου (Translator)

Τις τελευταίες εβδομάδες της Δεύτερης Αυτοκρατορίας στη Γαλλία, λίγο πριν την Παρισινή Κομμούνα, στις 22 Μαΐου 1870, εκδίδεται το επίσημο διάταγμα που απονέμει στον ζωγράφο Gustave Courbet (1819-1877) το παράσημο της Λεγεώνας της Τιμής· το νέο είχε αρχίσει ήδη να κυκλοφορεί από μέρες. Την επομένη της αναγγελίας, ο ζωγράφος αποποιείται αυτή τη διάκριση με ένα γράμμα του προς τον υπουργό Καλών Τεχνών Maurice Richard. Θα διαβάσουμε σε παράρτημα μια πρόχειρη μορφή αυτού του γράμματος, που βρέθηκε στα έγγραφα του Castagnary, και δημοσιεύτηκε για πρώτη φορά από τον Pierre Courthion το 1950. (Από την παρουσίαση της έκδοσης)

24 pages, Unknown Binding

Published January 1, 1986

About the author

Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet was a French painter who led the Realist movement in 19th-century French painting. Committed to painting only what he could see, he rejected academic convention and the Romanticism of the previous generation of visual artists. His independence set an example that was important to later artists, such as the Impressionists and the Cubists. Courbet occupies an important place in 19th-century French painting as an innovator and as an artist willing to make bold social statements through his work.

Courbet's paintings of the late 1840s and early 1850s brought him his first recognition. They challenged convention by depicting unidealized peasants and workers, often on a grand scale traditionally reserved for paintings of religious or historical subjects. Courbet's subsequent paintings were mostly of a less overtly political character: landscapes, seascapes, hunting scenes, nudes, and still lifes. Courbet, a socialist, was active in the political developments of France. He was imprisoned for six months in 1871 for his involvement with the Paris Commune and lived in exile in Switzerland from 1873 until his death four years later.