- Email: [email protected]
Gustave Courbet: an artistic life in turbulent times
DISSECTING ROOM
of duplex imaging for varicose veins. In other chapters are strategies to reduce the rate of recurrence after varicose-vein surgery and an evaluation of the operations for recurrent veins. The different approaches to the treatment of venous ulcer are thoroughly analysed. Several other interesting topics, such as renal revascularisation and rare vascular diseases are mentioned in later sections of the book. The chapters that deal with prevention and treatment of graft infection and the effect of non-surgical factors on surgical outcome will be of great interest to all vascular surgeons. The references at the end of each chapter are of topical interest and very
few of the relevant studies are missing. The use of bold print for randomised studies is useful since it allows easy identification of these studies. Tables are clear, and the number of radiological images is sufficient and of good quality. Some chapters, however, could have benefited from more figures stressing important surgical details. The illustrations could be improved since some are too schematic and not very realistic. As far as I know this book cannot be compared with any other book on vascular surgery in Europe since it reflects the whole spectrum of vascular disease and its management based on evidence from clinical trials. I would highly recommend
this book to all physicians interested in state of the art of vascular surgery and to those who want to know the current therapeutic management of vascular diseases. The evidence for vascular surgery provides information for surgical trainees because of its clear summaries of current vascular surgical standards, and for experienced vascular surgeons who need quick access to information in a permanently changing field. Hubert Hauser Department of General and Vascular Surgery, University of Graz, A-8036 Graz, Austria [email protected]
Gustave Courbet: an artistic life in turbulent times
n June 22, 1870, Gustave Courbet wrote to the French minister of Fine Arts to decline the official honour the government had planned to bestow upon him, the Légion d’Honneur. In the letter, he famously proclaimed that “The State is incompetent to deal with matters of art.” He also beseeched the minister to “Let me finish my existence as a free man. When I am dead, people should say of me: ‘He never belonged to any school, any church, any institution, any academy and especially any regime, except that of freedom’”. Less that a year later, however, Courbet was no longer a free man. He was arrested for his supposed involvement in the destruction of the Vendôme Column during the Commune of 1871 and on Sept 2, 1871, sentenced to 6 months in prison and a 500-franc fine. From then on, he was no longer free to exhibit his art. In January, 1873, the selection committee of the French section at the Vienna International Exhibition refused to include him and 2 months later, his two submissions to the Salon were rejected. In the same year, his belongings were seized, he was ordered to pay all the costs of the column’s reconstruction (a quite exorbitant 323 091 francs), and forced to flee to Switzerland in exile. In a letter to his close friend, Jules-Antoine Castagnary, dated May 14, 1877, he wrote: “The last years of persecution have deeply sickened me”. He died on Dec 31, 1877, the day before he was due to start repaying the debt. Courbet et La Commune at the Musée d’Orsay presents over 100 documents
O
THE LANCET • Vol 355 • May 27, 2000
Portrait de l’artiste à Sainte-Pélagie. Other than that, his late work was quite deliberately non-political. Numerous still-lifes are exhibited, as well as a splendid series of three trouts, which many see as self-portraits. One bears the inscription “In Vinculis Faciebat” (“Done in Prison”) and depicts a wounded fish in the throes of death. Unfortunately, the quantity of fine works on display is small and the exhi-
and paintings, analysing the artist’s involvement in what was one of the most bloody chapters in Paris’s history. On Jan 28, 1871, a defeated France signed an armistice with Germany to bring a term to the Franco-Prussian war. The Parisians, however, refused to surrender and when the government attempted to capture the canons of the city’s National Guard, civil war ensued. It culminated in the infamous “Semaine Sanglante” at the end of May, during which at least 10 000 people were executed. By the evening of May 27, a third of the city was on fire. 11 days earlier, the Vendôme Column, a symbol of Republican power (it was topped by a statue of Napoleon I), had been toppled by insurrectionists. Numerous caricatures of Courbet with the column are featured in the exhibition, as well as one of him as a fly. There are also letters, the minutes of the Commission des Arts, Gustave Courbet, Portrait de l’artiste à Sainte-Pélagie over which he presided, (1871–72) and copies of speeches bition on the whole gives a disappointhe made. Among the works of art on ingly superficial overview of Courbet’s show are several fine portraits, includparticipation in the Commune. Scant ing those of the philosopher Pierreattention is given to the real reasons Joseph Proudhon and the journalist and justification for his persecution. Gustave Chaudey, who was imprisoned There is also an almost complete failand then shot during the Commune. ure to evoke either the artist’s complex The only painting in which Courbet (and not always well-liked) character. alludes to his own incarceration is the
1919
Ornans, Musée Courbet
Courbet et La Commune La Commune Photographiée Two exhibitions at the Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France, showing until June 11, 2000.
Although Courbet claimed in 1871 to have opened a Socialist club as early as 1848, he was actually little interested in politics at the time and did not take part in the revolution of that year. Later, he was greatly influenced by the Socialist ideals of his friend Proudhon and from 1851 onwards, his paintings often took as subjects working-class scenes—Stonebreakers is a prime example. It was not until 1870, however, that he really took an active role in the politics of his time. In October of that year, he published two open letters (“To German artists” and “To the German army”) in which he admonished the enemy to end the seize of Paris. The following year, he stood as a candidate at the general election of February 8, and then at the local elections of March 26. On both occasions, he failed to be elected and was only finally appointed as a member of the Commune Council on April 16. He would resign from that on May 16 and his involvement in the life of the times was certainly more artistic than political. True, he did nothing to gain favour with the authorities by calling for artists to create their own government and for reforms in cultural life. However, he was largely responsible for protecting the treasures of the Louvre, was at the Luxembourg Palace on the day the government troops entered Paris in order to safeguard the museum, and also personally assured the safekeeping of the private collection of the Republic’s chief of executive power, Thiers. Furthermore, as a pacifist, he did not take part in the fighting. Courbet’s link to the destruction of the Vendôme Column is also rather tenuous. Certainly, in September, 1870, he had called for it to be disman-
Montreuil, Musée de L’Histoire vivante
DISSECTING ROOM
Y Bondy and anon, Portrait of dead from the National Guard, probably taken in a Parisian hospital (April–May, 1871)
tled and re-erected elsewhere, feeling that such a warlike monument was not at its place on the rue de la Paix (literally Peace Street). He also disliked it aesthetically and felt it was too tall for the Place Vendôme. Yet, he had not yet been elected to the Commune Council when the vote to demolish it was passed and had resigned by the time the act was actually carried out. It is not even certain he was present at its destruction. He did, however, intervene to preserve its base and several bas-reliefs, which he judged to be of historical value. Thus, the evidence of his responsibility is at the best slight and the penalty imposed on him, to say the
Aspects of Alzheimer’s disease An atlas of Alzheimer’s disease. Mony J de Leon, ed. Carnforth: Parthenon Publishing, 1999. Pp 120. £59·00. ISBN 1850709122. traight to the point and attractively presented, An atlas of Alzheimer’s disease, is a wellbalanced and informative review of both the basic facts and some of the latest advances about this disease. The book starts off with a review of the clinical stages of Alzheimer’s disease, followed by a nicely focused chapter on functional imaging. For readers familiar with the work of the editor, it is no surprise that much attention is given to magnetic-resonance-imaging studies of the medial temporal lobe
S
1920
(and rightly so!), which find their way into various chapters, such as neuropathology, written by Eva and Heiko Braak, and the authorative reviews on neurofibrillary degeneration, amyloidosis, and genetics. As appropriate for an atlas, all chapters are beautifully illustrated with high quality and informative figures. As such, this book directly serves the reader who wants to get a quick and global, but never superficial, view of Alzheimer’s disease. My feeling is that this book will be of great interest to health professionals
least, somewhat harsh. Indeed, in retrospect, the Vendôme Column seems to have simply been an excuse for punishing his criticism about the official line on the arts. It was also the perfect excuse for his enemies to gain revenge. For many, Courbet was an uncouth rebel and a braggart, who proclaimed his own genius for all to hear. “Here is an original who, for ten years, makes more noise in the city on his own than twenty celebrities and their cliques could make together”, wrote Théophile Silvestre. “He was not a bad man”, proclaimed Maxime Du Camp after Courbet’s death. “He was a simple imbecile. Between him and Napoleon I, it was a personal affair. The painter felt that the Emperor’s glory cast a shadow on his own”. Accompanying the Courbet exhibition is La Commune Photographiée (The Commune Photographed), in which the different stages of the destruction of the Vendôme Column are depicted in the images of Bruno Braquehais. The Commune was the first event in the history of France to be recorded to any extent by photographers. The pictures of barricades, devastated buildings, and troops tend to be somewhat static. Portraits of prisoners, however, were at the time extremely popular and their sale was banned by the authorities. The government itself used the new genre for two main purposes: to identify the dead and as a means of propaganda. The most fascinating images on show are the photomontages, which offer a distorted account of events and show that the authorities’ alteration of the truth was not simply limited to the misconstrued accusations against Courbet. Ian Phillips C/o The Lancet, London, UK
who are just starting to work in the field, medical students, and even lay people, although it also contains details that will attract clinicians and researchers already active in this field. If one has to mention one weakness, a chapter dealing with the future therapeutic approaches would have been a worthy addition. The authors and editor are to be commended for An atlas of Alzheimer’s disease, and their initiative in donating the royalties into an award fund for research by young investigators. Highly recommended. Philip Scheltens Department of Neurology, Academisch Ziekenhuis VU, 1007 MB Amsterdam, Netherlands
THE LANCET • Vol 355 • May 27, 2000
of duplex imaging for varicose veins. In other chapters are strategies to reduce the rate of recurrence after varicose-vein surgery and an evaluation of the operations for recurrent veins. The different approaches to the treatment of venous ulcer are thoroughly analysed. Several other interesting topics, such as renal revascularisation and rare vascular diseases are mentioned in later sections of the book. The chapters that deal with prevention and treatment of graft infection and the effect of non-surgical factors on surgical outcome will be of great interest to all vascular surgeons. The references at the end of each chapter are of topical interest and very
few of the relevant studies are missing. The use of bold print for randomised studies is useful since it allows easy identification of these studies. Tables are clear, and the number of radiological images is sufficient and of good quality. Some chapters, however, could have benefited from more figures stressing important surgical details. The illustrations could be improved since some are too schematic and not very realistic. As far as I know this book cannot be compared with any other book on vascular surgery in Europe since it reflects the whole spectrum of vascular disease and its management based on evidence from clinical trials. I would highly recommend
this book to all physicians interested in state of the art of vascular surgery and to those who want to know the current therapeutic management of vascular diseases. The evidence for vascular surgery provides information for surgical trainees because of its clear summaries of current vascular surgical standards, and for experienced vascular surgeons who need quick access to information in a permanently changing field. Hubert Hauser Department of General and Vascular Surgery, University of Graz, A-8036 Graz, Austria [email protected]
Gustave Courbet: an artistic life in turbulent times
n June 22, 1870, Gustave Courbet wrote to the French minister of Fine Arts to decline the official honour the government had planned to bestow upon him, the Légion d’Honneur. In the letter, he famously proclaimed that “The State is incompetent to deal with matters of art.” He also beseeched the minister to “Let me finish my existence as a free man. When I am dead, people should say of me: ‘He never belonged to any school, any church, any institution, any academy and especially any regime, except that of freedom’”. Less that a year later, however, Courbet was no longer a free man. He was arrested for his supposed involvement in the destruction of the Vendôme Column during the Commune of 1871 and on Sept 2, 1871, sentenced to 6 months in prison and a 500-franc fine. From then on, he was no longer free to exhibit his art. In January, 1873, the selection committee of the French section at the Vienna International Exhibition refused to include him and 2 months later, his two submissions to the Salon were rejected. In the same year, his belongings were seized, he was ordered to pay all the costs of the column’s reconstruction (a quite exorbitant 323 091 francs), and forced to flee to Switzerland in exile. In a letter to his close friend, Jules-Antoine Castagnary, dated May 14, 1877, he wrote: “The last years of persecution have deeply sickened me”. He died on Dec 31, 1877, the day before he was due to start repaying the debt. Courbet et La Commune at the Musée d’Orsay presents over 100 documents
O
THE LANCET • Vol 355 • May 27, 2000
Portrait de l’artiste à Sainte-Pélagie. Other than that, his late work was quite deliberately non-political. Numerous still-lifes are exhibited, as well as a splendid series of three trouts, which many see as self-portraits. One bears the inscription “In Vinculis Faciebat” (“Done in Prison”) and depicts a wounded fish in the throes of death. Unfortunately, the quantity of fine works on display is small and the exhi-
and paintings, analysing the artist’s involvement in what was one of the most bloody chapters in Paris’s history. On Jan 28, 1871, a defeated France signed an armistice with Germany to bring a term to the Franco-Prussian war. The Parisians, however, refused to surrender and when the government attempted to capture the canons of the city’s National Guard, civil war ensued. It culminated in the infamous “Semaine Sanglante” at the end of May, during which at least 10 000 people were executed. By the evening of May 27, a third of the city was on fire. 11 days earlier, the Vendôme Column, a symbol of Republican power (it was topped by a statue of Napoleon I), had been toppled by insurrectionists. Numerous caricatures of Courbet with the column are featured in the exhibition, as well as one of him as a fly. There are also letters, the minutes of the Commission des Arts, Gustave Courbet, Portrait de l’artiste à Sainte-Pélagie over which he presided, (1871–72) and copies of speeches bition on the whole gives a disappointhe made. Among the works of art on ingly superficial overview of Courbet’s show are several fine portraits, includparticipation in the Commune. Scant ing those of the philosopher Pierreattention is given to the real reasons Joseph Proudhon and the journalist and justification for his persecution. Gustave Chaudey, who was imprisoned There is also an almost complete failand then shot during the Commune. ure to evoke either the artist’s complex The only painting in which Courbet (and not always well-liked) character. alludes to his own incarceration is the
1919
Ornans, Musée Courbet
Courbet et La Commune La Commune Photographiée Two exhibitions at the Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France, showing until June 11, 2000.
Although Courbet claimed in 1871 to have opened a Socialist club as early as 1848, he was actually little interested in politics at the time and did not take part in the revolution of that year. Later, he was greatly influenced by the Socialist ideals of his friend Proudhon and from 1851 onwards, his paintings often took as subjects working-class scenes—Stonebreakers is a prime example. It was not until 1870, however, that he really took an active role in the politics of his time. In October of that year, he published two open letters (“To German artists” and “To the German army”) in which he admonished the enemy to end the seize of Paris. The following year, he stood as a candidate at the general election of February 8, and then at the local elections of March 26. On both occasions, he failed to be elected and was only finally appointed as a member of the Commune Council on April 16. He would resign from that on May 16 and his involvement in the life of the times was certainly more artistic than political. True, he did nothing to gain favour with the authorities by calling for artists to create their own government and for reforms in cultural life. However, he was largely responsible for protecting the treasures of the Louvre, was at the Luxembourg Palace on the day the government troops entered Paris in order to safeguard the museum, and also personally assured the safekeeping of the private collection of the Republic’s chief of executive power, Thiers. Furthermore, as a pacifist, he did not take part in the fighting. Courbet’s link to the destruction of the Vendôme Column is also rather tenuous. Certainly, in September, 1870, he had called for it to be disman-
Montreuil, Musée de L’Histoire vivante
DISSECTING ROOM
Y Bondy and anon, Portrait of dead from the National Guard, probably taken in a Parisian hospital (April–May, 1871)
tled and re-erected elsewhere, feeling that such a warlike monument was not at its place on the rue de la Paix (literally Peace Street). He also disliked it aesthetically and felt it was too tall for the Place Vendôme. Yet, he had not yet been elected to the Commune Council when the vote to demolish it was passed and had resigned by the time the act was actually carried out. It is not even certain he was present at its destruction. He did, however, intervene to preserve its base and several bas-reliefs, which he judged to be of historical value. Thus, the evidence of his responsibility is at the best slight and the penalty imposed on him, to say the
Aspects of Alzheimer’s disease An atlas of Alzheimer’s disease. Mony J de Leon, ed. Carnforth: Parthenon Publishing, 1999. Pp 120. £59·00. ISBN 1850709122. traight to the point and attractively presented, An atlas of Alzheimer’s disease, is a wellbalanced and informative review of both the basic facts and some of the latest advances about this disease. The book starts off with a review of the clinical stages of Alzheimer’s disease, followed by a nicely focused chapter on functional imaging. For readers familiar with the work of the editor, it is no surprise that much attention is given to magnetic-resonance-imaging studies of the medial temporal lobe
S
1920
(and rightly so!), which find their way into various chapters, such as neuropathology, written by Eva and Heiko Braak, and the authorative reviews on neurofibrillary degeneration, amyloidosis, and genetics. As appropriate for an atlas, all chapters are beautifully illustrated with high quality and informative figures. As such, this book directly serves the reader who wants to get a quick and global, but never superficial, view of Alzheimer’s disease. My feeling is that this book will be of great interest to health professionals
least, somewhat harsh. Indeed, in retrospect, the Vendôme Column seems to have simply been an excuse for punishing his criticism about the official line on the arts. It was also the perfect excuse for his enemies to gain revenge. For many, Courbet was an uncouth rebel and a braggart, who proclaimed his own genius for all to hear. “Here is an original who, for ten years, makes more noise in the city on his own than twenty celebrities and their cliques could make together”, wrote Théophile Silvestre. “He was not a bad man”, proclaimed Maxime Du Camp after Courbet’s death. “He was a simple imbecile. Between him and Napoleon I, it was a personal affair. The painter felt that the Emperor’s glory cast a shadow on his own”. Accompanying the Courbet exhibition is La Commune Photographiée (The Commune Photographed), in which the different stages of the destruction of the Vendôme Column are depicted in the images of Bruno Braquehais. The Commune was the first event in the history of France to be recorded to any extent by photographers. The pictures of barricades, devastated buildings, and troops tend to be somewhat static. Portraits of prisoners, however, were at the time extremely popular and their sale was banned by the authorities. The government itself used the new genre for two main purposes: to identify the dead and as a means of propaganda. The most fascinating images on show are the photomontages, which offer a distorted account of events and show that the authorities’ alteration of the truth was not simply limited to the misconstrued accusations against Courbet. Ian Phillips C/o The Lancet, London, UK
who are just starting to work in the field, medical students, and even lay people, although it also contains details that will attract clinicians and researchers already active in this field. If one has to mention one weakness, a chapter dealing with the future therapeutic approaches would have been a worthy addition. The authors and editor are to be commended for An atlas of Alzheimer’s disease, and their initiative in donating the royalties into an award fund for research by young investigators. Highly recommended. Philip Scheltens Department of Neurology, Academisch Ziekenhuis VU, 1007 MB Amsterdam, Netherlands
THE LANCET • Vol 355 • May 27, 2000