Painting Critique

Paige Becker

Professor Robert Bomboy

Humanities 101

April 3, 2016

Painting Critique

          

               When deciding what painting to critique I chose one that stood out to me, The Stone-Breakers. The artist use of distinct elements and principles enhances this amazing work of art. Not only is the piece aesthetically pleasing, it holds a deeper meaning. The artist used relatable scenes in order to attract a broad audience, including the lower socioeconomic class, which was not a common thing to do during that particular time period. These depictions of everyday life were a drastic change from the “exotic, remote, and heroic imagery of the Romantics and the noble and elevated themes of the Neoclassicists”.(Fiero, 302)

            The leader Realist of the nineteenth century was a French artist, Gustave Courbet. Courbet stated, “An artist should paint only what he can see”, which is why many of Courbet’s paintings were landscapes, portraits and other contemporary scenes (Fiero, 302 ). He was the son of a farmer, and self-taught artist. Courbet painted ordinary people in their natural settings. There is a prime example of his work that exemplifies his choice to paint people in these settings, The Stone-Breakers. This painting was created in the year 1849 and was an oil on canvas work of art.  

            This painting, The Stone-Breakers, is a painting depicting two men that are doing very physical work. One of the reasons that this painting is very unique is that the backs of the two men are facing the viewer of the painting, “thus violating, by nineteenth-century standards, the rules of propriety and decorum enshrined in French academic art”(Fiero, 303 ). Not only was this painting different because of the previous circumstance but also the people in the painting are everyday workers. The people that were being painted in this time period were normally upper socioeconomic people, not the lower class laborers. Courbet depicted situations such as these to relate to the lower socioeconomic class. During this time in history “the country population was still two-thirds rural and largely poor”, which made this painting very relatable to the working class citizens (Fiero, 303 ). Courbet “wants to show what is "real," and so he has depicted a man that seems too old and a boy that seems still too young for such back-breaking labor”, this is just another way that he was able to relate to the people of that time period (Harris).

            The way that Gustave Courbet used certain elements dramatized the point that artist was trying to make. When viewing Courbet’s brush stokes it can be viewed that they are rough, which is different from other artists such as Neoclassic and Romantic styles. It is said that he painted this way one purpose because it “was in part a conscious rejection of the highly polished, refined Neoclassicist style that still dominated French art in 1848”(Harris). Also, Courbet spends just as much time working on and putting the same amount of detail on the hands as he does on the rocks, which is done to make the painting “real”.(Harris)

            The element of color takes on a big role in this painting. The colors in The Stone-Breakers, is monotonous and can directly relate with the tone of the painting. The lack of vibrant colors insinuates the strenuous work the men are performing and the feeling of people being trapped in the lower socioeconomic class. You can also see when viewing the painting that the hands of the workers are covered in dirt, once again showing the hard work that is being done by the largely poor population of this era. The majority of the painting is dark, but it can be viewed in the top right corner, there is a light blue sky, which many feel is representing that the laborers are trapped in the darkness and cannot reach the light. The form of the work has depth and depicts the scenery of a mountain in the distance and the man and young boy working in the lower valley. There is a shadow that is cast along the top portion of most of the painting. The contrast that is used in this artwork is used to show the difference between different objects and to make them stand out. The artist used the elements and principles in ordered to enhance the overall meaning behind the painting.

            Gustave Courbet used art in order to convey a certain message. Artists during this time period were painting upper class people, and nostalgic sceneries, but Courbet did not do this. He painted the activities of the ordinary people during this time period. The power which was held by the upper class, was being challenged by his paintings. He painted the everyday people instead of just the rich people, which angered many of the upper class people. The power of the upper class was being questions by the lower class which was two-thirds of the population during this era. Overall, the relatable painting appealed to the people of this time period, and the message that Gustave Courbet was trying to make known was clearly viewed through his amazing work of art.

https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/becoming-modern/avant-garde-france/realism/a/courbet-the-stonebreakers

                                                                 Works Cited

Fiero, Gloria. Humanistic Tradition Prehistory to the Early Modern World. New York:

Mcgraw-Hill Education, 2015. Print.

Harris, Beth, and Steven Zucker. "Courbet, The Stone-Breakers." Khan Academy. Web. 01 Apr.

2016.