1985.R.20 Courbet, Study of a Hand | DMA Staging Content Management System

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

Gustave Courbet neither a prolific nor a masterful draftsman, and with the exception of a few highly finished charcoal drawings of the 1850s and 1860s, the majority of his surviving drawings were in sketchbooks made during his youth. This double-sided drawing is probably a sheet from a dismembered sketchbook made in the early 1840s. The various studies on both sides include a wide range of subjects in a manner familiar to art historians who have looked at 19th-century art-student notebooks. Studies similar to Courbet's of a skeleton (the skull and the rib cage) could be found in comparable notebooks by hundreds of his contemporaries, and even the compelling study of a hand accords well with established drawing practice among students.

The hand is drawn precisely and represented fully to scale. It is the artist's own left hand, in a carefully observed pose that Courbet never again used in his art. Courbet was among the most self-absorbed artists in the history of French art, and he began to make self-images while in his early twenties. Most of them show a fascination with theatrical poses and elaborate hand gestures. By contrast, this simple study represents the hand almost as an inert still-life element. We are encouraged to think of the hand not as an "organ" of touch, but rather as an available "model" for the youthful artist. The drawing has the stamp of the collection of Paul Reverdy, the grandson of the painter's younger sister, Zoé Courbet-Reverdy.

Adapted from

Richard Brettell, Impressionist Paintings, Drawings, and Sculpture from the Wendy and Emery Reves Collection (Dallas Museum of Art, 1995), 16-17.

NOTES

Entered complete Brettell catalogue essay as a text entry (as has already been done with many other Reves objects).

Revised the provenance for formatting and additional information.

This note was previously tagged #routed (and possibly !Routed_Feb15). I am removing those tags and replacing with #draft so that this note proceeds to GDocs for routing and is harvested to Brain. (EAS, 12/19/2016)

Catalogue essays specific to object

Reves Collection

Artist/designers

Courbet, Gustave (French, 1819-1877)

Cultures

Geography

Produced- Ornans (France)

Process/materials

pencil

paper

Historical periods

July Monarchy (France, 1830-1848)

Individuals

Subject terms

drawing

sketch

anatomy

recto

verso

thistle

hand

skull

shadow

architectural drawing

perspective

leaves

study

RELATED OBJECTS

PROVENANCE (already entered in TMS)

n.d.: Jean-Baptiste Eugène Reverdy (b. 1801), Paris [1]

By 1956: Paul Reverdy, by descent [2]

By 1967: Charles Garibaldi, Marseilles, France [3]

1967-1985: Wendy (1916-2007) and Emery Reves (1904-1981), Villa La Pausa, Roquebrune, France, purchased from the above

From 1985: Dallas Museum of Art, The Wendy and Emery Reves Collection

[1] According to Von Hans-Joachim Müller, “Ausstellung In Baden-Baden: Courbets Unbekannte Reiseskizzen: Der Zeichner incognito,” Zeit Online, February 3, 1984, works bearing the stamp “Fonds Reverdy” originate from the collection of Jean-Baptiste Eugène Reverdy, husband to the artist's youngest sister, Zoé Courbet-Reverdy. The collection passed by descent to their grandson, Paul Reverdy, who then sold the works through the gallery of Charles Garibaldi, Marseilles, France. Copy in object file.

[2] See Müller (1984). The drawings are first documented to be in Paul Reverdy’s possession in 1956; therefore, he must have owned the work by this time.

[3] Provenance given here is taken from a letter from Charles Garibaldi (dated March 1, 1967, in object file), of Gallery Garibaldi, Marseille to Emery Reves.

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FUN FACTS

The verso of the paper is tinged pink, suggesting that the recto was originally this color but has faded from exposure to light.
Both Portrait of Regis Courbet (1985.R.19) and Study of a Hand, Thistle Plants were housed in the collection of Courbet's brother-in-law and passed down to his great-grand-nephew by the mid-twentieth-century. Based on current research, it appears these two works on paper have remained together since leaving Courbet's studio.

TEACHING IDEAS

RULES

Apply to objects where number equals 1985.R.20

General Description

Gustave Courbet neither a prolific nor a masterful draftsman, and with the exception of a few highly finished charcoal drawings of the 1850s and 1860s, the majority of his surviving drawings were in sketchbooks made during his youth. This double-sided drawing is probably a sheet from a dismembered sketchbook made in the early 1840s. The various studies on both sides include a wide range of subjects in a manner familiar to art historians who have looked at 19th-century art-student notebooks. Studies similar to Courbet's of a skeleton (the skull and the rib cage) could be found in comparable notebooks by hundreds of his contemporaries, and even the compelling study of a hand accords well with established drawing practice among students.

The hand is drawn precisely and represented fully to scale. It is the artist's own left hand, in a carefully observed pose that Courbet never again used in his art. Courbet was among the most self-absorbed artists in the history of French art, and he began to make self-images while in his early twenties. Most of them show a fascination with theatrical poses and elaborate hand gestures. By contrast, this simple study represents the hand almost as an inert still-life element. We are encouraged to think of the hand not as an "organ" of touch, but rather as an available "model" for the youthful artist. The drawing has the stamp of the collection of Paul Reverdy, the grandson of the painter's younger sister, Zoé Courbet-Reverdy.