Gustave Courbet – 1861 “Femme nue au chien” – 1861
Gustave Courbet was a French painter, known as a leader of the Realist movement in the late-19th century. While he emerged alongside the Impressionists, his work was more focused oncapturing life as it acutally appeared, rather than the more figurative interpretation associated with his contemporaries, like Monet and Sisley. Courbet was known for painting subjects considered vulgar, such as starving peasants, in stark reality. His work, although somewhat macabre, is masterfully executed, and provides a good understanding of some of the hardships of the period. Courbet was a very headstrong individual, and even went to the extent of erecting a temporary gallery next door to the Salon de Paris exposition, when the curators denied some of his works for various reasons. He insisited that his work be seen in its intended form,, not altered to appease the stylistic desires of art aficionados of the time.