Realism: Cheeling Yiu talks on Courbet's Proudhon and his children,1865

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Artist:	Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet
Title: Location:	Proudhon and his children Musée Du Petit Palais, Paris, France
Year:	1865
Medium:	Oil
Dimension:	147 x 198cm

This painting named ‘’Proudhon and his children’’, was painted by Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet in 1865 France. The medium in this work is oil in 147 x 198 cm dimensions. This art work is a piece of reflection of Realism, with little linkage with Romanism. The explanation of some historical background, how this work fits into Realism and Romanism and the impression it makes on me will be discussed below. At last, there will be two key questions raised from the work for further discussions.

The artwork's relation to Realism & Romanticism at 1853
This piece of work is showing at the time of 1853, in a realistic style. At the period of time in France, “Romantic” Realism had emerged in the writings of Honoré de Balzac (e.g. Les Paysans, 1844), George Sand (e.g. La Mare au diable, 1846) and Champfleury (e.g. Les Oies de Noël, 1853) and in paintings by Philippe-Auguste Jeanron, Armand Leleux, Adolphe Leleux, François Bonvin, Théodule Ribot.[1] Romantic Realism praised the simplicity of rural life and different domestic tasks that women were handling. However, in this painting, Courbet did not to paint out the life or how he would praise the peasants like some aristocratic drawings but presented them directly to criticize the traditions in art world.

The main character in this painting Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, was a French libertarian socialist and journalist. On the top step at the left is clearly shown "PJ.P/1853." Courbet may have chosen that year for these two reasons: it was the year when one of Proudhon's important books, La philosophie du progres, was published (and banned); and it was a moment of living a warm and loved family, with two children living happily together. However, in the following year, the girl in the picture who was playing with her cups died of cholera. Thus, the marked of that year was reasonable and remarkable for Proudhon so was secretly marked on the stair.

When we look more detail into the picture, we will find that the family was not completely drawn. Proudhon, being a person who was anti-Semitism and sexism[2], may provide some ideas of why the characters in the picture missed a “mother”. A handcraft historiographer Linda Nochlin gave out that at the same time to his first articulations of anarchism Proudhon also wrote and published "the most coherent anti-feminist part of its time, or maybe, whatever different," La Pornocratie ou les femmes dans les temps modernes, which "raises all the main issues about woman's position is society and her strong sensuality in sexuality that was unmatched in any other text." Therefore, it could be possible that the disappearance of Proudhon’s wife was because of his philosophy about racism and anti-sexism. He might think that there was just little importance of a mother in a family, or even the society, therefore, Courbet drew his concept out in this painting, in a hidden way by just made mother appeared in woven cloth and an empty rattan chair.

There were two significant statements that Courbet made in his artistic life. First, Courbet’s ‘Manifesto of Realism’, entitled Le Réalisme, which he published for his exhibition in Paris in 1855, expressed his ideas about creating his own style. The manifesto emphasized the importance of the existing and traditional drawing techniques and knowledge, but at the same time to bring about the new personal styles. Moreover, he announced that he would like to interpret the society from different aspects, in order to become a “real” man and to draw a masterpiece representing the modern society. The second one was a realistic statement in 1861 saying that "painting is an essentially concrete art and can only consist in the representation of real and existing things," It shows that he rejected “decorating” the reality, and not to care about to be criticized.[2] The below shows how he achieved his goal and manifesto.

The whole picture is really looked like one of those simple days that had passed in the year of 1853. It consisted of direct observation of society and nature. Proudhon was the only character who appears to stand out from his surroundings, like daydreaming in the garden of his house, with the eyes staring at the painter. It raises a mood of realism as it is like looking at the audience, like looking at the painter when we are being drawn by him. It gives a sense of direct interactions between the audience and Proudhon, and Proudhon with Courbet. Also, the whole tone of colors used is plain and warm-toned like pale brown, pale green, white and blue-green. It expressed the down-to-earth manner in a simple way that realism describes.

On the other hand,the feeling of Romanticism was also shown in the picture. The natural environment shown here was pretty dark, like the trees at the back of the people, except the pink flower at the back of Proudhon.Together with the light colors used on the costumes of the people, a contraction has highlighted the main character in the painting. In the meantime, the two little girls were playing with their ''toys' - the alphabet, teacups and pitcher, they were somehow combining with the natural environment behind them, showing one of the features of romanticism – the relationship of the individual to nature in romanticism. Besides, they were constructed in a way that having large heads on short and fat bodies, their askew heads on misty facial expressions which might emphasize the personal imagination and psychological states that Courbet expressing.

What impressed me

My first sight of this piece of work is lovely and a picture depicting the life of a family. Finally, I realized that it is a mixture of romanticism and realism. With a quite real scene captured in Proudhon's life with his two daughters, the two sweeties were drawn in a romantic style, pretty elegant and attractive. It is really interesting to look at the paintings that drawn in realism at the old times, as they showed the actual states people lived, giving a shock when compares the life to the modern world. Especially in this piece of drawing, the unclear interactions between the two girls with their dad attracted me in the first sight. It is because normally, the paintings showing family are usually giving a sense of connections, no matter actions or eye contacts between family members. But in this case, three of them seemed doing different things, having their personal descriptions and states of mind, which impressed me and forced me to find out the background or story behind the painting. In addition, the mixture of styles in this artwork is quite interesting for me to discover. After observing this painting, I think that all the styles can be fused together to create impressive art works. It is because art is free, creative and sometimes personal. No matter what kind of style it is, it expressed something by the artist that is the most important thing, but not the styles of artwork. Such as many famous paintings created by Van Gogh in the 1800s are also the combination of impressionism and expressionism; but we cannot deny that they are great works. I think the fusion of styles appeared during the gaps social and trend changed. With different social environment at different places, artists create a huge variety of artworks with mixture of different styles, which diversified the database of art.

In conclusion, it is a painting representing a simple capture of Proudhon's life in France in the 1800s. With the combination and communication between Realism and Romanticism, it created a leisure and gorgeous view, producing a relaxing atmosphere to make people enjoy watching it in detail. This work piece also recorded the concept and revolution that Proudhon raised at that period of time, which makes it not only an artwork with artistic features, but also social and political involved. It inspired the people at that time, and us, in the modern era to think more and look deeper into artworks, because there may be different reflection and stories you get when you look deeper into them.
 

Reference

1 Gustave-Courbet.com,"Portrait of P.J. Proudhon, 1865 by Gustave Courbet”, http://www.gustave-courbet.com/portrait-of-p-j-proudhon.jsp

2 HEILBRUNN TIMELINE OF ART HISTORY, "Nineteenth–Century French Realism", http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/rlsm/hd_rlsm.htm

3 Linda Nochlin, Courbet, Thames & Hudson,2007, p. 220, note 34

4 Rubin, James Henry, Realism and Social Vision in Courbet & Proudhon, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1980

5 Georges Riat, Gustave Courbet, Parkstone Press, 2008

6 何政廣，《世界名畫家全集 庫爾貝 寫實主義大師》河北：河北教育出版社田，2001，11。

7 J. H. Rubin. "Realism." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press, 2015, http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T070996( accessed April 25)

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[1]J. H. Rubin. "Realism." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press, 2015, http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T070996( accessed April 25) 
[2] Linda Nochlin, Courbet, Thames & Hudson,2007, p. 220, note 34

[3]何政廣，《世界名畫家全集 庫爾貝 寫實主義大師》河北：河北教育出版社田，2001，11。