Beyond Face Fusion
“Face fusion” is not the only way an artist can insert his or her identity into the portrait of someone else. Courbet’s 1846 Portrait of H.J. van Wisselingh (above left) demonstrates another. An art historian, Rae Becker, has shown how Wisselingh’s clothing accords “with contemporary notions of the Bohemian and nonconforming artist” which was Courbet’s own public persona. In addition, “the candid, frontal pose, the expressive tilt of the slim and graceful figure, the attractive features, and the intelligent, penetrating glance suggest a sensitivity and self-awareness not unlike Courbet’s own.”1
Becker says much the same about Courbet’s Portrait of Baudelaire too (above right): “The idea of the artist-worker, which was to underlie much of Courbet’s later self-imagery…is introduced here …. The egalitarian concerns of both the poet and the painter are thus given expression.” In each portrait Courbet imagines himself in the other man’s shoes imposing his own personality, style and interests on them whether or not they shared them. It is, of course, significant that Baudelaire disliked his portrait.2 Perhaps, despite the great poet’s vaunted knowledge of art, he knew less than he realized.
1. Sarah Faunce and Linda Nochlin, Courbet Reconsidered (Brooklyn Museum of Art) 1988, pp. 92-3
2. ibid., pp. 97-8
Posted 14 Apr 2011: CourbetPortraiture
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