Week Five Comments

   In week five, we discussed the rise of the international expositions in Europe. I was surprised to learn that Great Britain was the innovator this time rather than Paris. At the Crystal Palace, which was built in ten days thanks to pre-fabricated parts, all nations were invited to display technology, culture, and most importantly art. France was soon to follow with its own Exposition Universelle in Paris. The most notable was the Paris Expo of 1889 when the Eiffel Tower was unveiled, symbolizing the French state, its economy, industry, and modernity.

   We also discussed a favorite artist of mine, Gustave Courbet. Courbet was the first Realist in Paris, as opposed to the Romanticists and Classicists David and Ingres. Although Courbet painted with high academic finish, it was what he painted that was different. He painted scenes from everyday life, genre painting. His Burial at Ornans represents the perfunctory nature of a middle-class funeral, with its disinterested mourners.