A famous and unusual relationship existed between the collector Alfred Bruyas (1876-1821) and the painter Gustave Courbet (1819-1877), as depicted in the well-known work “Bonjour Monsieur Courbet!” This work depicts the painter Courbet, Courbet’s patron Alfred Bruyas, and his servant Calas. Courbet, the artist, dressed in traveling clothes, a knapsack on his back, a walking stick in one hand, and a hat in the other, walks toward his patron, who is dressed in fancy clothes, and waits with his servant and hound at the head of the road. The servant, Calas, is also dressed in relative elegance, but bows his head humbly before the respected artist.
This work was first exhibited in 1855 in Paris, in the “Pavilion of Realistic Art” that the artist Gustave Courbet opened on the street, opposite the entrance to the “Salon” exhibition, as a protest against not being accepted into the official exhibition of the Academy. In the work, which was seen as a social and artistic manifesto in painting that deals with the artist’s social status, Courbet presents a number of clues to the way he sees himself and his role as an artist in society, as well as the way he wants society to treat him. The holding of the hats also takes on a different meaning for each figure: Courbet appears to be holding his hat for convenience alone, while the patron and the servant appear to be taking off their hats as a sign of respect for the guest. The critic Edmond Abbott, upon its presentation, gave the work the title “Success Bows to Genius.”
The artist’s patron, Alfred Breuil, commissioned the work. Courbet accepted Breuil’s invitation to stay with him for several months at his estate in Montpellier. Courbet had probably come from Paris, which is visible in the distance, and had probably met Breuil and his servant at Lattes, outside Montpellier. The composition derives from a popular engraving on the theme of the Wandering Jew, identified by Linda Nochlin in her 1963 doctoral thesis, where the Jew meets two bourgeois in a rural setting. Courbet’s treatment of his Bohemian portrait was similarly influenced by the legend of the Wandering Jew, and Courbet’s identification with it was that of an outsider who challenges the relationship between artist and patron.
To his contemporaries, this work by Courbet seemed childish in its design. There is no impressive standing of the figures, strong colors, or flowing lines. The painter's description of himself as a wanderer was certainly perceived as scandalous. But this was precisely Courbet's intention: to shock the conventions of the bourgeoisie of his time. He describes himself as equal to his patron, who takes off his hat in his face. Courbet belonged to a noble class that had fallen from its property, but in the path he chose, he saw art as sublime and surpassing in importance the status of the patron. The artist is independent, free in his opinions, and does not accept dictates from anyone.
The landscape is flat and open with a low horizon, reminiscent of 17th-century Dutch landscape paintings; in Courbet's work this mode of presentation is used to enlarge and emphasize the figures outlined against the bright sky. The background seems to provide a "platform" for the figures, and the intermediate area is completely absent, creating a sudden gap in distance. Critics commented when the painting was exhibited at the 1855 Paris International Exhibition that the painter presented himself in a most arrogant manner. The source of light in the work comes from the left. Courbet stands in full sunlight, while the patron and servant are in the shadow cast by a tree outside the open composition. The realist Courbet saw the appearance of everything in a faithful reflection of the reality of everyday life without personal involvement; he gave the realist movement its name, and his approach is something of a revolution in art, since he wanted to be a student of nature alone.
And more about Alfred Breuil
The above portrait is the first of three depictions by Courbet of his patron and pen pal, Alfred Breuil (1821-77). In the context of Théophile Sylvestre, Courbet intended the secondary title Tableau-Solution to convey the “affection and perfect accord” he felt for his new friend and mentor with whom he shared so many aspirations: for Breuil, the ability to find his way within contemporary art and society, and for Courbet, the realization of spiritual and economic dependence. In 1855, their collaboration resulted in the Pavilion of Realism, Courbet’s famous solo exhibition, now a historical landmark in the 19th century.
Alfred Breuil, a young man from a prominent family in Montpellier, was determined to promote modern art and painting. He even commissioned a number of portraits of himself from contemporary artists such as Alexandre Cabanel, Thomas Coutier, Eugène Delacroix, and others. Breuil was influenced by the vision of social reform as proposed by the followers of Charles Fourier in the early 19th century, and espoused Courbet’s idealistic view of the social mission of art. (He donated his art collection to the Musée Fabre in 1868.) He was full of admiration for Courbet’s work shown at the 1853 Salon, and his “Bathings” that caused a scandal at the exhibition, he singled out as an example of “free art”; a meeting with the artist and a commission for this portrait soon followed.
The image was placed in Courbet’s studio on the Rue Hautefeuille in the late spring of 1853, and it emphasizes traditional portraiture combined with a careful depiction of Bruyas and his restrained but clear taste for decoration. Of great importance is the volume with the inscription “Studies of Modern Art Solution A. Bruyas. In the lower right.
Gustave Courbet changed the audience…
Courbet's origin from the Jura Mountains, a region bordering Switzerland, was the emotional starting point for the artist's critique of modern civilization. In proclaiming the freedom of the mountaineer with the mountains as fortresses behind him, he emerged as a regionalist against centralist government, a countryman against the rigid codes of the city, and a follower of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon against the urbanization of modern industrial society.
John Berger wrote in “On Observation” that Courbet’s innovation came from his appeal to a completely new audience; he did not change the painting, he changed the audience. This work is typical of the 19th century, a century in which socialist theories of equality and fraternity were emerging. Courbet was also friends with the French politician, socialist, and thinker Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (1865-1809), whose worldview fascinated Courbet as well as the young revolutionaries, including Karl Marx, who were gathering in Paris at the time. Proudhon believed that a person is not free when he is dependent on others for his work and his wages, and that the existing system of laws should be replaced by common and agreed-upon principles, bringing with it freedom, equality, and encouragement for cooperation (too bad he was quite a misanthrope, anti-Semite, and hated Jews and even Protestants). Courbet painted Proudhon and His Daughters in 1853. The work was completed in 1865.
Berger John, Ways of Seeing, Penguin Books, 1972
Faunce Sara, Courbet reconstructed, Yale University Press, 1988
Nochlin Linda, The Jew in the text: modernity and the construction of identity, Thames and Hudson c.1995
Linda Nochlin, Realism and tradition in art 1848-1900 sources and documents, Prentice Hall c.1966