Letters of Gustave Courbet

The French Realist painter Gustave Courbet (1819-77), a

pivotal figure in the emergence of modern painting, remains

an artist whose interests, attitudes, and friendships are

little understood. A voluminous correspondent, Courbet

himself, through his letters, offers a tantalizing avenue

toward a keener assessment of his character and

accomplishments. In her critical edition of over six hundred

of the artist's letters, Petra ten-Doesschate Chu presents

just such a look at the inner life of the artist; her

unparalleled feat of gathering together all of Courbet's

known letters, many heretofore unpublished and untranslated,

is sure to change our evaluation of Courbet's creativity and

of his place in nineteenth-century French life.

Beginning when Courbet left his provincial home at

eighteen and ending eight days before his death in exile in

Switzerland, this correspondence enables readers to follow

the artist's development from youth to mature artist of

international repute. Addressed to correspondents such as

the poet Charles Baudelaire, the painter Claude Monet, the

writers Champfleury, Victor Hugo, and Théeophile Gautier,

the political theorist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, and the

politician Jules Simon, the letters offer numerous insights

into Courbet's life and art as well as the cultural and

political activity of his day. In fascinating detail, they

present the artist's relation to the contemporary media, his

deliberate choice of subject matter for Salon paintings, his

preoccupation with photography, and his participation in the

Commune.

Besides collecting, translating, and annotating the

letters, Chu provides an introduction, a chronology,

biographies of persons appearing frequently in the letters,

and a list of paintings and sculptures mentioned in the

letters. Her work is an essential resource of immediate use

to historians of art and culture, political and social

historians, and readers of biography.

Petra ten-Doesschate Chu is professor and head of the

Department of Art and Music at Seton Hall University.