Monday, February 18, 2013

Gustave Courbet, A Burial at Ornans (1849-1850)


            The meaning of this painting is so important. The theme behind it is one that everyone, especially people in this society need to know. It is a picture of everyday people going to a funeral. But the importat thing is it is for a guy we can’t even see, a guy that no one know. One that isn’t an important king or hero. But this faceless human being buried is more than just a nobody. It is everyone. It shows that every human being is a hero. That no matter who they are, they matter. This mythology and scripture they talk about had nothing to do with them. The critics and public hated it. Artists thought it was the best thing they’ve ever seen. And so do I.
            The government was very hostile about the grand opera prouctions. They didn’t want any of the people to outsine it so they limited independent productions so that they could have no more than speaking characters. But Jacques Offenbach was one theatre composer who still thrived during these insane limitations. When he was rejected from the in Paris he decided to become his own producer. He came out with operettas, something lighter than opera and more musical. He had some famous works like Les Deux Aveugeles(The Two Blind Men), Ba-ta-clan, Le Violoneux, and Madame Papillon that become very popular in Europe until the 3 character law was finally lifted.
            I think this rise in Music has something to do with what was happening in Art too. They both show how people are rising up and becoming their own. Ike in, A Burial at Ornans, showing everyone is a hero, the operas show how anyone can accomplish what they set their hearts on. It shows such a sense of becoming more and more independent.

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