Brooks Riley at Art At First Sight:
There’s probably no other painting that so perfectly mimes and memes our miserable zeitgeist than Gustave Courbet’s overwrought selfie from 1844. For whatever reason, the painter decided to give us a good close look at a hissy fit extraordinaire, one that looks eerily like a reaction shot to our dystopian present.
The format is horizontal—a break with portrait tradition—so that his arms and hands can play a supporting role in conveying emotion, whatever that emotion may be.
As a painting it wavers between Caravaggian high-contrast melodrama and a proto-cinematic forecast of Gloria Swanson’s histrionics in Queen Kelly. A close-up ahead of its time, the painting’s impact is intensified by chiaroscuro details—black irises and whites of eyes, white shirt and black hair.
More here.
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