Les Chasses de Monsieur Courbet

Courbet is in fashion. His so-called Origine du monde has been spoken about the world over. This sort of publicity is very much of the liking of the musée Courbet in Ornans, which has just bought, through a subscription, a major painting, the Chêne de Flagey, from a Japanese collector. This respectable tree will be exposed as of 10 March 2013, and illustrates Courbet’s taste for nature, which has recently given way to this publication on a theme that is no longer very appealing, hunting. Le Cerf aux abois, l’Hallali, le Renard au piège, le Chevreuil mort, all these game themes which Courbet treated from all angles, especially after 1860 when hunting became the favorite pastime during the Second Empire. In total, some 130 works that are scattered among various museums in the world, including a beautiful Après la chasse at the Metropolitan in New York. This art book is also a history analysis that shows the irreversible disappearance of an activity that ensured the equilibrium of the species and a link that has largely disappeared with our environment.

• Les Chasses de Monsieur Courbet, coédition Musée Gustave Courbet/éditions du Sekoya, 2012, 152 p., €29.