Gustave Courbet was a prolific and influential painter who was one of the founders of the art movement referred to as realism. He was also a French artist One of his major works of art was the painting “Woman with a Parrot.” The painting was created in 1866 with the medium of oil on canvas. Oil was a method of painting where an artist uses pigments dispersed in oil. It was the first nude art of the artist to be acknowledged by the Paris salon in 1866 after an earlier entry in 1864 was deserted as indecent. The represents a topic that adequately offended its audience. It features a naked woman holding a parrot, the pose of the figure and well-modeled flesh tones affiliated it with academic art. Viewers of the painting were surprised and shocked by the presence of the woman’s disheveled hair and discarded clothing. However, Jules-Antoine Castagnary defended the picture giving the artist praise for representing a “woman of our time.” The paper is going to analyze the significance of the painting to the art history canon by examining its medium, style, technique, symbolism and the cultural context it was created.
When the painting “Woman with a Parrot” was displayed in the Salon of 1866, it received a lot of critics whereby people said that Courbet did not have taste and they criticized his model as well because of her “ungainly” pose together with her “disheveled hair.” However, the provocative image found favor and appreciation with a younger generation of upcoming artists and existing artists as well who shared similar views of Courbet’s disregards for academic standards. Nonetheless, the main problem of the painting was the blatant sexuality of the picture where a young woman is seen sprawled across a couch, her feet moderately splayed, her luxuriant hair tresses spread out on a white sheet that is disarranged. Also, part of the sheet seems to have entwined itself around her upper right leg. The sheep has become a tangled heap resulting in queries in the viewer’s mind as to how this might have happened. The young girl is amused by a parrot whose outstretched wings, showcases its striking plumage, echoing her hair’s messed locks. The image provokes a more erotic tone.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
The query we should be asking ourselves is why the painter used the parrot. In the medieval times, the call to some parrots was believed to resemble the word “Ave” which was utilized by the archangel Gabriel during his greetings with Mary at the Annunciation hence the parrot was seen as one of the many characteristics of the Virgin. The bird later came to be utilized as a secular helper to women. Their exotic and sumptuous as well as provenance improved their allusive utilization by a variety of artists as a pointer to those particular qualities in the sitter (Galvez, 2008). By the 18th century, a bird that had flown its cage came to be connected with a fallen woman. Therefore, the parrot began to exhibit both the erotic and the exotic. So with the use of a parrot, Courbet puts forward a courageous mix of references, no doubt created to ruffle the feathers of the committee of the Salon. Nonetheless, the contemporaries of Courbet loved it. Apparently, Cezanne kept a photo of the painting in his wallet and Manet created his version of the painting.
In “Woman with a Parrot,” the parrot symbolizes a magic bird which can be drawn from the writings of Flaubert. The image itself, in spite of the un-idealized form of the model, by its composition as well as pose indicates unexpected connections with salon paintings. Courbet’s realistic concept to eroticism is most noticeable on the lady’s right breast. The breast falls to one side with a weight that is soft so palpable that people can almost feel it in their hands.
The painting “Woman with a Parrot” by Courbet highlights a provocative subject. It signifies a stylistic change from the Renaissance to the modern period. He was concerned with showing reality, even if it was seen to be harsh or objectionable. Moreover, the style used in the painting is realism. The artist used realism to represent the subject matter of the painting truthfully, without distorting the message and avoiding conventions of an artistic nature, supernatural and exotic elements. Courbet used an exotic image to portray his message in which he used a naked woman in the painting. He accurately depicted perspectives, lifeforms, and the details of color as well as light. With the utilization of oil painting, Courbet was able to paint the precise effects of light. He used realism to try and bring art and life together. He also wanted to portray reality in his painting, and that is why he utilized realism.
In a nutshell, the canvas a “Woman with a Parrot” was the first naked art of Gustave Courbet to be accepted by the Paris Salon. The painting was created in 1866. Courbet utilized the medium of oil on canvas which had become very popular in that period. The painting, however, received many critics because of the use of a naked model with disheveled hair. The painting had a sexual context which shocked the viewers. Courbet used realism to depict reality.
Reference
Galvez, P. (2008). Gustave Courbet and the origins of modern painting 1862–1870. Colombia University: Columbia University, 2008
