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Originally Posted by Peter Dransfield
Courbet famously said he "didn't paint angels because he never saw one" and he touched on the heart of the matter. Realism is not about technique - it is about the truth and honesty in rendering the world around us. Bourguereau idealised whereas Courbet, Degas and Manet gave us truth. You give me a portrait of a pretty woman and I give you a woman squatting over her tin bath; you give me Satyrs and angels and I give you a boating party and peasants breaking stones.
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And what is wrong with a portrait of a pretty woman? Pretty women do exist. OK, maybe Satyrs don't exist....maybe!
Angels...well, certainly not the feathery-winged variety. But this is just subject matter - I don't think you can really say what is or is not valid subject matter. I think, argument-wise, that's a dead-end. But your larger point is a great one - it's an argument that my brother (a painter himself) and I have all the time. Beauty vs Truth. What is more important in a painting? Does a painting have to be beautiful to be "great"? Can or should truth and honesty in depicting the world around us be subserviant to some particular - or general - notion of Beauty, idealized or not? And what exactly does "honesty" and "truth" mean when we painters are all about the business of creating - an
illusion?
Of, course we never do come up with an answer, but I think it's a great way to frame the argument. I think your arguments are well taken, thoughtful, well-articulated...And in many ways I agree with you. Like Richard, I don't think Bouguereau was
the greatest painter of all time (one of them certainly), and I think he does push the envelope on the sentimental, idealized or romantic aspects of some of his pictures. But in spite of all these things that would normally turn me off, I keep coming back to his work. I think it is because, first of all, I see a way of depicting the human form that is
extraordinarily convincing (truth and honesty) and masterful in its execution. Subject matter aside, there have not been many painters in history than can render the human form with as much understanding, consummate skill, sensitivity and emotional power as Bouguereau. And I haven't seen anyone in our time come close.
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Art is not about technique. Great art does not require great technique nor does Kitsch art require its absence. Technique helps tell whatever story we want to tell but it can never replace it.
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If a work of art aspires to be great and the technique is "less than"... it's like watching Pavarotti singing on stage at the Metropolitan Opera with his fly open.
Peter, I'm so glad you've joined this Forum. I really do appreciate your cogent, thoughtful contributions.