Hotspur🏳️🌈🇺🇦<p>"Study of a Nude Man," Gustave Courbet, early 1840s.</p><p>Courbet (1819-77) is an artist I find both impressive and annoying. Dude was beyond talented, and had an amazing audacity at times. He rebelled against Romanticism and French academic standards, deciding he would only paint what he could see. This ended up making him a huge influence on the Impressionists, but also his independence of spirit was an inspiration to more modern art movements like Cubism.</p><p>He also made a splash as a social realist, depicting the struggles of the poor without idealizing or romanticizing them, and confronting the viewer with how things really seemed to be. Later in his career, he indulged in artistic erotica, including "Sleep," a painting of a nude lesbian couple in bed, and "The Origin of the World," a highly realistic painting of female genitalia.</p><p>What's annoying about him? Dude was into himself. There's a number of self-portraits where he presents himself as a heroic figure, deferred to by the wealthy, all virile and studly. </p><p>This is a painting from early in his career, a work done as a training exercise. I can't help but wonder if he would do a nude of himself later on...</p><p>From the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.</p><p><a href="https://social.vivaldi.net/tags/Art" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Art</span></a> <a href="https://social.vivaldi.net/tags/Realism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Realism</span></a> <a href="https://social.vivaldi.net/tags/GustaveCourbet" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>GustaveCourbet</span></a> <a href="https://social.vivaldi.net/tags/NudeDude" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>NudeDude</span></a> <a href="https://social.vivaldi.net/tags/Butts" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Butts</span></a> <a href="https://social.vivaldi.net/tags/ItsNotSmutItsArt" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>ItsNotSmutItsArt</span></a></p>