Gustave Courbet and the Narratives of Modern Painting

Funded by the DFG and the Carl Friedrich von Siemens Stiftung

Organized by Stephanie Marchal (Ruhr-Universität Bochum) and Daniela Stöppel (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München)

The goal of the meeting is to substantively extend our view of the oeuvre of Gustave Courbet (1819–1877), to link the classical methodological repertoire of (art) history with newer approaches stemming from the history of science and to consider Courbet as an example to subject the art historiography of Modernity to a self-reflective examination.

Courbet’s oeuvre and Courbet as a person play a key role in the constitution of aesthetic Modernity: his oeuvre can be used to establish “high modernism” and equally as a point of departure for a postmodern criticism challenging the teleological narrative of modernism. Thus, Corbet’s name can be linked in equal measure to ideas such as authenticity, naivety, presence, immersion and self-referentiality, which are determinative for the modernist narrative, but also to ideas of the political artist who acts as part of society as has been stressed since the 1960s in social art history and, based on this, research focusing on the artist.

The study of Courbet thus does not only mean positioning his oeuvre within 19th-century art, but rather, in accordance with the main idea of our conference, taking a stand on modernity itself and in so doing reflecting on the role that art can or should play within Western societies.

A simple confrontation of modernist and postmodern perspectives does not seem to be very constructive in this context inasmuch as this would only perpetuate art-historical narratives. Instead, the goal of the planned meeting is not to one-sidedly endorse the one or the other camp, whether in relation to method or to the history of discourse, but rather to open a cognitive space permitting multi- and meta-perspective argumentation in decidedly (art)historical terms. This does not only make it possible to submit Courbet’s role in the construction of (Post)Modernity to a fundamental examination; but also the other way round, the roles attributed to Courbet can paradigmatically shed light on the discourses of (Post)Modernity.

Due to this cognitive interest, in addition to recognized Courbet experts, scholars concerned with the history and exploration of Modernity in a more general approach are also invited.

The amalgamation of these discourses with newer empirical-historical findings of recent research on Courbet – new sources, attributions, revocations of attributions and new datings – is intended to result in a questioning of standard narratives and to a new perspective on Courbet’s work with special consideration of work groups such as landscapes and portraits that up to now have received little attention in research.

Program

Day 1, March 27

13:00 Welcome

13:30 Introduction Stephanie Marchal (Bochum) and Daniela Stöppel (Munich)

14:00 Panel I
Narratives of art history Jan von Brevern, Berlin (respondent for the session)

14:15 Claudia Denk, Munich: Das Narrativ vom freien Künstler – Jean-Jacques Rousseaus „Émile“ und Courbets Selbstbildnis als „homme libre“

15:00 Gregor Wedekind, Mainz: Gustave Courbet und Théodore Géricault. Realismus als Filiation der Romantik

Coffee Break (15:45–16:15)

16:15 Michael F. Zimmermann, Eichstätt: „Savoir pour pouvoir“: Courbet, clinical medicine, and social art

17:00 Lucy Bowditch, Albany: Courbet’s “Scientific Method“ in the 1850s: Multivalent Narratives on Modernity and Morality

Break (17:45–18:30)

Keynote-Lecture
18:30 Susanne Knaller, Graz: Ästhetische Realismen in der Moderne. Vorschläge für eine aktuelle Begriffsbestimmung

Reception (ca. 19:30)


Day 2, March 28

Panel I (to be continued)
Narratives of art history Jan von Brevern, Berlin

9:30 Regine Prange, Frankfurt: Künstlerischer Ikonoklasmus und Sozialistischer Realismus. Courbets Malerei als Paradigma einer kritischen Kunst und Kunstwissenschaft im 20. und 21. Jahrhundert

10:15 Kerstin Thomas, Stuttgart: Die Wahrheit der Gefühle: sensation und sentiment bei Gustave Courbet

Coffee Break (11:00–11:30)

Panel II

Body discourses Gilbert Titeux, Paris (respondent for the session)

11:30 Paul Galvez, Dallas: The Milk of the Sea: Michelet and Courbet

12:15 Frédérique Desbuissons, Reims: L’esthétique somatique de Courbet

Lunch Break (13:00–14:30)

14:30 Anthea Callen, Canberra: Courbet and the Narratives of Modern Masculinity

15:15 James Rubin, New York: Courbet’s Rotten Apples: Flesh and the Final Years

Coffee Break (16:00–16:30)

Roundtable
Stephanie Marchal and Daniela Stöppel (respondent for the session)
17:00 Thierry de Duve; Michael Fried, Chicago; Ségolène LeMen, Paris; André Dombrowski, Philadelphia


Day 3, March 29

Panel III
Self-fashioning and Persona Tobias Vogt, Bochum (respondent for the session)

9:15 Annette Tietenberg, Braunschweig: Utopie oder Heterotopie? Das Atelier als sozialer Raum

10:00 Barbara Wittmann, Frankfurt a .M.: Courbet auf der Jagd

Coffee Break (10:45–11:15)

11.15 Matthias Krüger, München: Knife-work

12:00 Claire Dupin, Paris: Between honour and scandal. Decorated Courbet at the Salon (1849-1861)

12:45 Oliver Krätschmer, Karlsruhe: Politics of Chronology. Courbet’s strategic attempts to backdate his paintings

Farewell-Snack


Registration:
It is an open conference, but with limited seating, so that registration is required. Participants please register until March 22th with full name and address at:
courbetruhr-uni-bochum.de

Location:
Carl Friedrich von Siemens Stiftung
Südliches Schloßrondell 23
80638 München
www.carl-friedrich-von-siemens-stiftung.de

Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us:
Jun.-Prof. Dr. Stephanie Marchal, Lichtenberg-Professur
Kunstgeschichtliches Institut
Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Universitätsstr. 150
GA 2/154-Süd
Stephanie.Marchalrub.de

Dr. Daniela Stöppel, Akademische Rätin
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
Institut für Kunstgeschichte
Zentnerstr. 31
D - 80798 München
daniela.stoeppellrz.uni-muenchen.de