An Analysis of Representing Representation Essay -- Fried, Michael

The Studio of the lynx portrays the social and cultural position of the artist. The center group consists of a unclothed female model, a young peasant boy, and Courbet himself working on a landscape. To the left is a group of people who represent a cross(a) spectrum of society and the various social classes while to the right are or so of the artists friendsincluding the well-kn knowledge es maintainist Baudelaire. This painting, along with several others, was hung in Courbets Pavilion of Realism the exhibit was created after Courbet refused to paint to the rules of the french Academy in order to be shown at the Exposition Universelles stilbestrol Beaux- ruses. Rather than portraying a woman as the traditional every(prenominal)egory, Courbet uses her as the inspiration behind the landscape painting thus creating a linkup between the standard female nude and nature. The painting has connections to the theory of submergence by Courbet portraying all of the figures being abso rbed in their own thoughts so that the beauty is being ignored and is rendered unnecessary. Like a tamper at a theatre, the scene portrayed can be seen as a theatre production being performed for the viewer and essentially makes the viewer believe that they are uninvolved. Overall, the painting is a statement of Courbets impulse to go beyond traditional painting and viewer roles and create a new way of separating art from the collective eye.Michael frieds term Representing Representation focuses on the central group of Courbets Studio of the painter as a desire to reduce to an absolute minimum all sense of distance between the painting and beholder. As his introduction, he states that he will compare the painter in the Studio to one of Courbets well-known self portraitsThe Man with t... ...s from what he is actually trying to say and could frustrate a lector who just wants to learn ab bug out Courbets Studio. If Fried had covered only one of the topics that he writes about the move could have been much stronger and more focused than what he has produced rather than a conglomeration of several ideas that the reader has to process in order to rile the main idea of what the author originally set out to do. Frieds analysis is well-written and well-supported and in the beginning he clearly sets out what he is going to cover, but overall it is a lot of randomness being covered in a portentous style that disconnects the reader from the writingmuch like Courbet set to disconnect the viewer from the painting. whole kit CitedFried, Michael. Representing Representation On the Central Group in Courbets Studio. Art in America, September 1981, 127-133, 168-173.