Through The Eyes of The Artist: William Bouguereau

[@bbygrltarot]

i hope you see this ms.stadelman; through the past few months you have become my favorite art historian and you have brought me great joy and comfort through times of deep anxiety and fear. it's evident that being an art historian is your purpose. thank you for this amazing series, for making it free and accessible, and for fulfilling your life's purpose. words are not enough to express my gratitude.

[@LucasViniciusdrawings]

you have no idea how this is important... more people must know the academic art and specifically about Bouguereau! Thanks alot for sharing his life history!!!

[@blackwid0w10]

Explains a lot about what happened to art. Thank you!

[@bevconklin5172]

This is a fantastic video! Thank you for your knowledge!

[@composer1663]

I just saw this video. Let me express my heartfelt compliments. When I retired in 2011, I took up oil painting. I finaly came to the conclusion that the epitome of art skill is represented by what Bouguereau did. He took the glazing skills of the old masters to a new level. The more I emulate Bouguereau, the more compliments I get on my portraits. I have long felt that the criticism he received by other artists was motivated by their realization that they would never achieve what he did. If one looks at Picasso's early paltry attempts to paint realistic art, it is clear that he was deficient in the basics and had no talent in that regard. Thus, he went off in another direction that he could actually achieve (and dragged along numerout sycophants who were artistically illiterate in what constitutes real achievement.) Your video articulates extremely well what many of us have known for some time. Thank you.

[@oilartworks9124]

I love this lady! She has done a wonderful job. I've been to a million museums in nearly 20 countries, grabbed college in Art History, and became an oil painter after. I'm glad she mentioned John William Waterhouse. If I had never become an artist and continued to study the History of work, I may never have learned the names of many people who were not placed in my college books as well.

[@RosaMysticaMantilla]

Lady I couldn't agree more. I was in art school getting my BA in the 80's, too. The only reason we heard of this man was to explain how wonderful the Impressionists were. We were robbed!

[@josephcampagnolo157]

Thank you to the lecturer for aiding the recovery of Bouguereau's reputation. His work alone should have been enough to sustain it. When I was young and first visiting museums on my own, I would wander through the Impressionists' galleries since their paintings were so popular, our home art tomes devoted so much space to them, and they were more or less pleasant to view if not often stunning. I recall discovering Bouguereau by wandering into a corner room at the Met. There were Bouguereau's peasant girls, and although the subjects were simple, the portraits were gripping. The lecturer is exactly reporting the situation in the 1970's and 1980's. Bouguereau, Tissot and many of the period had been relegated to undeserved lowliness. Strangely, Pierre Auguste Cot had not been so badly treated and so his Spring and the Storm were always given prominence at the Met.

[@wilmakerstholt699]

Thank you so much

[@gspurlock1118]

Magnificent!

[@westfieldartworks8188]

Great presentation. And she's right. The old Masters were and their methods were not lost,....they were deliberately pushed out by small groups of influential people. Many of these people despised John Singer Sargent for the same reasons.

[@geofholmes206]

Superb lecture and a real eye opener.

[@jenniferpeters3702]

Have always loved his paintings. Thank you so much for this video celebrating him.

[@kathyrippyfleming7277]

What a wonderful presentation!

[@JacquelineHinshaw]

This was so enlightening for me. Bouguereau is one of my highest inspirations and I really appreciated this lecture!

[@cefaro]

Bouguereau has been "criticized by painters and writers of a new generation who considered themselves progressive artists who believe that rebellion against traditional values in painting was their whole purpose in life". Well spoken, these progressive people are everywhere trying to set a new standard, imposing their own decadence and perverted style of living. William Bouguereau was a genious and most gifted talent very hard to be emulate by others.

[@moutserge]

je le dis dans ma langue, car je ne maîtrise pas la vôtre. Vous avez exactement compris l'état d'esprit qui régnait alors au tournant du 19e siècle. La politique l'a emporté sur l'art et la modernité sur le talent.

[@ramelep]

Bravo !!!!! Well deserved treatment to the GREAT Master! One of my FAVORITE artist Love her passion

[@couvduck60]

This was so interesting and so well presented. Really learned alot.

[@jackwalters3928]

I downloaded and saved this presentation on my computer. I think everyone should watch it.

[@neilmutch70]

Very interesting. Have just consulted my 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die, and I can't see Bouguereau listed, nor the other outstanding artists noted by Felicia. Thank you so much for this lecture.

[@teejaymz742]

This was a great lecture. I've always been a fan of Bouguereau, ever since I became aware of his art. What a shame that was ignored for so many years.

[@leticiachamone5667]

Thank you so much for this. So hard to find quality content sharing my own beliefs. ❤

[@2009Artteacher]

such a great presentation much needed . the world is not aware of the true business dealings of art ! though like anything great the eyes sees and the heart understands greatness!

[@claireonlinex]

This was great! I saw 'the birth of venus' and was blown away, its so crazy to think that this master was discredited and is not well recognised

[@kolias33]

Hi Felicia, I did stop the vid at 9:44 just to tell you that I was very happy when you named that pictures...that is the first thing I see every morning when I do wake up. It has been hanging on the wall of my room for many years now! ;-)

[@kolias33]

Ah! Thanks for the speech I am enjoying so much....still in it!

[@felixmarinjr.66]

Thank you very much, I learned a lot about one of my favorite artist.

[@flormesa751]

I love this painter specially his religious scenes.

[@ohiorn34]

Bouguereau was an artistic genius. His ability to capture such emotion in paint is a testament to his greatness. Ever since I first saw his works, I have been enthralled with his amazing ability to paint skin tones. The realism is fantastic. Anyone who criticized this man’s works was only full of jealousy. The artistic abilities of his critical contemporaries remind me in most cases of paint by number. That so called “art” has further declined and unfortunately continues to this day with scribbles and splatters selling in the millions. Modern art is atrocious and could be accomplished by a typical three year old. The only thing more ludicrous than most modern art is the pushing of it by a bunch of elitist snobs who wouldn’t know beauty if it slapped them in the face. Thankfully the desire by some to destroy “Old Master” techniques was not successful and is having a revival that I hope only grows more and more. Then art will once again take its rightful place depicting beauty, meaning, and emotion.

[@saicompany]

ohiorn34 I totally agree with you modern art ruins the beauty of art and destroys the art appreciation of our future generations

[@christos_phe]

One of the best lectures I ever heard!!! I feel so much rapped with my scholastic path... It's raging!!!

[@lonemapper]

Thoroughly enjoyed this. Answers a lot of questions.

[@willingtolistentoyou]

For More Information - Videos of Contemporary Artist Cesar Santos and Luis Borrero - at 12:40 Other artist's names are Joseph Jules Tissot, Alexander Cabanel, Jean-Léon Gérôme, John William Waterhouse, Lawrence Alma Tadema, Lord Frederick Leighton...other artists - Pascal Dagnan-Bouveret, also Orientalism and the Lectures of Vincent Desiderio on the technical narrative of oil painting.

[@arialigi6391]

Thank you for all the great information on Bouguereau. One comment. I would not say that no women were allowed in the Salons or academies in Paris. I would ask that you rephrase by adding the words 'at that time' because Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun was a member of the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture and became so May 31st 1783. She was the official portrait artist for Marie Antoinette. Equally so, during Louis XIV, Rosalba Carriera, who specialized in miniatures, was one of the premier artists. Of the two, though. Vigée Le Brun stands out. Her work included not only aristocrats but ordinary folks and even landscapes.

[@1976kinan]

Thank you so much for this amazing presentation ...

[@m.i.miller8008]

Excellent presentation. Thankyou.

[@monicaparson6118]

I am researching Bougareau's style for my painting degree. Can anyone help me find out how he did what he did?? He is AMAZING!!! I need to know more. THANK YOU Felecia for this information!! Do you have any books/texts you have written or can recommend to me? THANKS SO MUCH for an INCREDIBLE DISCUSSION!!!

[@bugisami]

I studied art all the way to the end of high school, and it was many years later that I first heard of Sargent.

[@Redhackle]

Thank you for posting this . Very much appreciate your presentation. Cheers.

[@AllanBanks]

Bouguereau, Perfection

[@michaeldemarco8824]

the entire pre-Raphaelite movement is an afterthought. I loved that she threw in Frederic Leighton.

[@n3bie]

Wow what a great presentation! Thank you!

[@MegaFrankie75]

The problem is still on, if you try to find a documentary on Bouguereau there is nothing . Sad

[@a.c.1474]

They were just simply insanely jealous of Bouguereau's phenomenon artistic abilities like no other artist before or since. He was a gift from God

[@a.c.1474]

@plamenovcharov Well yes, it matches the way they are desperately deceiving young impressionable minds in school, colleges and universities too. The artists, sculptors and composers of the past had the most incredible talent. I think if they could visit the present they would cry in despair. Authority is dumbing down society in every aspect of life. The human race is now in the greatest danger it's ever been in and it's all by design but now in the eleventh hour people are waking up to their predicament.

[@santiagoescobar932]

These talks are fantastic! Please do continue to have/upload them.

[@danielensor2196]

This lecture! An epiphany! I had to come back to this video when I watched the PBS News hour for the date December 5th, the last segment was about the Miami art show this year.

[@Blueyes787]

Thank you! And we need you to write a monograph about Bougereoau.

[@juliepekarske8302]

A few years ago Milwaukee Art Museum had a Bouguereau exhibit. It was awesome. I really liked that you spoke of the kind and caring person he was. Thank you. I would like to request that during the lecture, the camera stay on the painting slides for longer time so the viewer may appreciate the paintings. Listening to the lecture and seeing more of the painting would be greatly appreciated. Thank you again.

[@YsuuB]

I hate how late in life i learned about Bouguereau. Hardly any books on him out there, but way too many on the impressionists. I'm glad to finally understand why

[@nathanpoe2768]

So glad i found this video. I don't agree with everything but it gives a wonderful perspective! Because I disagree with bits I know I am going to have to do some more digging. I love this.

[@VallaMusic]

what a powerful lecture

[@12345678910111213106]

omg! Similar thing happened to me! I was in the Dalí museum, and there I saw what I thought was the best painting of the museum (bagnieuse), at the top floor in a small room, that's how I found out about Bouguereau... Interesting thing was that before that, I saw what I thought was the best painting in an unemphasized place and it was also by him!

[@jackwalters3928]

When I was in "art" school my "art" tutor asked me who my favourite artist was. When I told him it was Bougueareau, he told me that he's "not an artist. Just someone who knew how to paint well". We're talking about a university where the teachers themselves, well, "teachers", didn't know how to draw or paint. I have countless stories from there... One "teacher" was showing us slides of his works one day. He literally painted a whole canvas black, like they do in movies and TV shows when they want to satirise artists and they have one who paints a canvas with just one colour, only he did it unironically! Everyone was applauding and I was just looking around confused with a "what the actual fuck" look on my face. These people were living, walking, talking parodies, so of course they hated Bouguereau and anything or anyone related even remotely to realism. Hell, we didn't even have life drawing classes. A bunch of us had to raise some hell in order to get them and even then it was the littlest the uni could do. Just one class for a couple of hours or so per week with just a few of us and some dude with a gigantic cock piercing posing naked. It felt like they just wanted to shut us up than actually create this class. All we did was theory and even that was second grade. Ugh, don't let me get started. I'll never finish and this comment will turn into a book.

[@jackwalters3928]

Some dude once went on to talk to us about Marx (yes, the commie) for the entirety of the lesson. That's what art schools are today. That's why they're ridiculed and art is (rightfully) looked down upon and that's why I prefer calling myself an illustrator than an artist. "Artist" is a dirty word now.

[@Thesamurai1999]

@@jackwalters3928 Haha, I also had a horrible expreience at an "art" school just a year back. There was this one class that really hit the nail in the coffin. We were given a piece of paper, pencil and a rock. I thought we were gonna draw the rock, but nope. We were gonna put the rock ontop of the paper and trace around the rock, to create an oval-ish shape. Then guess what? We did it four FOUR hours, just tracing around a rock over and over again. The teachers knew nothing about anatomy contruction, perspective or anything. I left that school after six month of nonsense.

[@jackwalters3928]

@@Thesamurai1999 That's like when we trace our hand, but we do that when we're 5. Not at an art school. And it's with a hand, not a rock.

[@chrisjcollins777]

Bouguereau is possibly my favorite painter of all time. It's amazing that there are dopes who prefer worthless junk by Rothko or Jackson Pollock (or any other modern painter whose stuff looks like a low I.Q. 8 year old did it). Avant-garde painting/sculpture are a collective joke, as is Rap: ugly, simplistic "art" (by people with little talent) to be admired by imbeciles with bad taste. Bouguereau was incredible. And thank you Ms. Stadelman for this eye-opening lecture that highlights yet more of the disingenuousness and brainwashing of academia.

[@donaldsottile8375]

If I were in the audience I would have the option to choose. Anywy, many thanks all the same.

[@brokenrulerlabs]

Art dealers across time have crushed so much knowledge for the sake of greed and promoting a false idea of human ingenuity and skill. It truly is a tragedy. The people with no talent telling the rest of us what to like and being sure to cast you out if you dare try anything different. I run a small farm and retreat center out in the woods of the PNW. Over the last 10 years, i have received a rich education from our art retreat guests about what else was and is out there that is amazing but just silenced by dealers who actually only know subscribed popular works. Kind of turns my stomach to the mainstream. Outsider art for me, ill leave the refined stuff to the pretenders. I’m thankful to all the artists who have donated their works to our small college foundation. Someday, we hope to be able to share these works with youth from underserved communities who don’t get to go to major cities or even state museums. The world of art is so unethical and immoral. Reminds me of those who claim humans only arrived in the Americas 12,000 years ago even though the proof is overwhelming and honest scientists who respect knowledge no longer hang on that time line. Alternative facts right?

[@johnpress]

Can you recommend a book on this topic? Or have you written on this topic?

[@immanuelgodson7156]

Come and see my presentation on bougueraeu....i show off my paintings at the end....YAY KITTENS!

[@danielensor2196]

I am still reeling!

[@ciucinciu]

SO thats why i always felt like have to force myself a bit to be impressed by impressionism, always felt like they re just nice paintings, but never genius or transcendental. Impressionists are just ok, not great not terrible. Now it s super weird for me, cause i have 7 commissions of impressionist reproductions to do for a client and now i won t be seeing those works the same again. This story pissed me real hard, naturally cause i find myself criticizing some of my friends who do illustration, and they whole work ethic is "work fast, cut corners, reduce techniques cause money is not that great, do commercial pop work for advertising agencies and bullshit corporations" and their quality is visibly declining as months pass by. And they always have these excuses for not getting better at their art. I suspec their art is popular because of similar method of speculation, one big circle jerk of artists and corporate clients that congratulate eachother while dancing for likes and bad pay.

[@danielm3670]

I'm skeptical as to how he could produce so many works, very detailed, and large in his lifetime. Could he have to be superhuman.. something doesn't add. In life's everyday issues, and him having outlived four of his children, he still found the time to commit to such works? Something else may be going on there. Who can give me a logical answer?

[@bakedmudstuff1587]

IMO, before we buy into the theory that art dealers engendered modernism, consider how photography changed during the same period. By the end of the Great War, soft-focus, romantic pictorialism gave way to sharp focus realism, pictures of machinery and similar unromantic subjects. This wasn't commercialism because photographs weren't bought and sold by dealers. Sentimentality died because war made it impossible.

[@VVhistory]

I am a cinema and art historian; The only art that influenced the other one was Painting, sorry but the new age of the art of photography did not negatively opressed the art of painting, what came from photography was probably better Camera obscuras and hyperrealism.

[@Philip-bk2dm]

And yet we are very glad that the modernists made the break. They had to, and what would we be missing if they had not?

[@karenlindberg9515]

I am confused. This is verbatim of a Fred Ross speech and paper I just read this week. Someone copied someone. Too bad. The information itself is enlightening.

[@gloriapinskerportraits4801]

Excellent lecture about a wonderful artist, but I have to question what Ms. Stadelman said about Chopin's collecting Bougereau's art. Chopin died in 1849, while Bougereau was still attending art academies. BTW, Picasso's work was horrible. I think he laughed all the way to the bank!

[@kathyhigbee1280]

💖

[@DhariaLurie]

"The Pledge Life was bestowed upon man by the Creator The ways of tradition were by Him laid down In following them we may discover His path, and return to Heaven, made pure With the loss of tradition goes our humanity Modern ways of thinking are a morass most deep The doctrines of atheism and evolution are promulgated at the Devil Red’s decree Most human lives were divine before coming here, and with the Creator a pledge made True glory lies in discovering His way, doing spiritual practice, and forging a body divine For you once promised to bring salvation to your own Kingdom and its many lives February 26, 2018" Master Li Hongzhi (Hong Yin VI, from Falun Dafa teachings)

[@bevconklin5172]

Why do you think someone would purchase “the little shepherdess”

[@michaeltheophilus5260]

Mawkish, stillted and staid is what I would describe his work

[@TruthSetsUfree100]

When you get older and have more life experiances the you will understand the Sublime. Same is said those who hear Frank Sinatra sing, they say he sounds old fashion , but suddenly when they grow older they listen to him again and now understand Frank Sinatra's greatness and the depth of his interpretation of the songs lyrics.

[@chrisredfield3607]

The fetishization of ironic detachment these days is quite sad.

[@murderballad1154]

Frederic Leighton♥

[@a7tweetk]

Hi. Thanks. Bye.

[@eddiebeato5546]

William A. Bouguereau’s legend will only grow in the days after tomorrow. Of course, it is understandable why he is feared, ignored and almost banned from the contemporary pantheon of our idols and gods. His philosophy and aesthetics are diametrically opposed to the avant garde artist of today. Why? I think the answer is more complex than just a sudden change of taste, ethos, or the symptoms of a pernicious, corrosive sickness of decadence already cankering the sinews and tissues of Europe prior to the First World War. The answer, for any serious reader, is as complex as the philosophy of Frederick Nietzsche apropos of the conditions of this pitiable modern man, an automaton of civilized society, “a grotesque caricature of history” when compared to the artistic heights of the Ancient Greeks and Romans. Indeed, one could appraise Bouguereau’s artworks anymore than Nietzsche’s snarky criticism of “modern society and nihilism.” True, by the turn of the twentieth century, representational arts had lost proselytes with the advent of the camera, “the photography,” and less competent artists, unschooled in the rigor of the French academia of the Nineteenth Century, could now give free reins to their creative puissance, “imagination,” with little attention to the objective world of reality. And eventually, and as supported by the new philosopher of aesthetics, the subjective mind, much to our surprise, finally won the laurels of genius! Nay, “the crazier the better” won the approval as the “masters of a new era of artists.” Arthur Schopenhauer had warned us about this phenomenon (Parerga and Paralipomena Vol. 2, On Judgement and Criticism), but we thought he was just an embittered, dour misanthrope, and little by little the master works of men of genius were buried as obsolete, antiquated and out of fashion (fuddy-duddy). Ours is a dark age of a technocratic society, age of pragmatic machines, hellbent on reducing a large segment of mankind into “sordid animals of consumerism,” pervasive nihilism, high-flown promises on “the pursuit of material things as the key to happiness and success,” and hence, psychological suicide in masses ad infinitum --as evinced in almost every big city- where the downright vulgar and the exceptional noble are placed side by side, in tandem, nay, in equal footing. Secretly, these denizens of the netherworld, are hellbent on finally trampling the cornerstones of our Western Civilization. Why? This crisis was prophesied by F. Nietzsche, but it was masterfully and beautifully elucidated by Spanish philosopher José Ortega y Gasset: the Revolt of the Masses. Mind you, ours is a time of unparalleled madness in the unpalatable pages of history. What we have achieved in technological prowess, quantum physics, genetics and the ubiquitous world of the Internet, have been lost and botched in this new spoiled child of our inquiry. It is obvious that science, however helpful to alleviating the burden of life for a much larger humanity, is only one aspect in the interpretation and meaning of mankind when surveyed from the high pinnacles of former civilizations: humanities as conceived by the Ancient Greeks, as represented in the timeless paintings of William Bouguereau, should be the main focus of our noblest endeavors. Now, how was this phenomenal revolution possible, the slow destruction of the noblest ideals of humanity? That this inversion or reversal of values and aesthetics could have deceived the sheepish masses is one of the greatest frauds and artistic scams in the history of Homo Sapiens.

[@a.c.1474]

From the first few sentences I thought, hasn't Bouguereau and Trump got so much in common

[@Aristocles22]

I find it funny how the "art" which takes the least skill to make is appreciated mostly by the cultural elite, while art which takes tremendous skill to make is popular with common people. Show a Picasso to most people and they'll reject it in favor of a Bouguereau.

[@Aristocles22]

@plamenovcharov Sophists and scammers, not artists.

[@MandalaMeditation]

Thank you for highlighting this amazing artist! His work is also featured in this Christmas video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fqCXZZKkqc54fpY

[@Aristocles22]

Frankly, we need to discredit modern "art" figures like Picasso, Dali, and Chagall in order to make room again for true artists such as Bouguereau or the Pre-Raphaelites.

[@NostalgieLand]

Excuse me but Picasso paintings are sh**!

[@riccia888]

How dare you picasso

[@donaldsottile8375]

Really appreciate this lecture but found myself wanting to spend more time looking at the art images . I can listen to the speaker while looking at the art. Too much video time unnecessarily on the speaker rather than the art.

[@valeriebassett8632]

It's not surprising to find out that money was the motive behind the modern art movement but I don't think all modern art is worthless. It has meaning, purpose and value. It's not wise to catorgorize artistic expression as good or bad, but rather in terms of its intent. Both Academic art and modern art have value and purpose. Listen to Sister Wendy's pbs program on art history and you may find insight on modern art and its meaning.

[@thenoodledog]

What other artists wanted from the poor guy? Jealousy I guess..

[@michaeltheophilus5260]

Ppor guy. Yeah right...he was crying all the way to the bank as he sold out to the taste of the rich who have no ubderstanding of art lol

[@amez643]

This was a hilarious mix of reactionary views and contradicting statements

[@markahearn1]

You refer to Degas as a liar "Bouguereau's work lacks inovation". Pretty strong use of words. You may have a lot of letters in front of your name but in many ways Degas was right. Bougureau's style was very much in the classical tradition. So please don't bad mouth Degas.

[@chrisredfield3607]

So pretentious art history majors today are just regurgitating Picasso's marketing hype as facts? Sounds about right.

[@mmpoggs2033]

Bouguereau’s standards were too high for the ungifted favoured art persons of the new World to attain to ! Not even near! I guess ‘they’ decided to throw away things to excellent for favoured ones to allude to!

[@jon780249]

So conspiracy theory comes to art history too!!! The fact is Bouguereau was very popular until the early twentieth century when his work seemed anachronistic and old fashioned. The world was modernising. Artists were experimenting with ways of expressing that change and those artists became the ones most of the art world see as important. Bouguerau became a watchword for what was being rejected. But anyone who has read art criticism of the early 20th century knows that avant garde art, as it was known, was not fully embraced by art critics and the public until the 1930s. Art criticism remained divided on its merits even then. The art critics that backed it tend to be the ones we still remember today. Many of them were exceptional critics, some well versed in the renaissance traditions that Bouguereau sought to emulate. They merely felt modern life and modernity required a different kind of art. In the 1970s there began to be a revival of interest in academic art in line with a more detailed, broader and context specific account of painting and sculpture in the 19th century. Since then Bouguereau has become popularised, claimed on the far right as the true tradition of French painting, by anti-modernists, some of whose rhetoric echoes the early anti-semitic views of critics that saw modern art as a foreign and more specifically jewish influenced phenomenon, and by others who simply want a more pluralised and historically accurate account of 19th century art. It is good Bouguerau’s art is now being looked at and appreciated, but let’s not turn this into some conspiracy theory led account of the triumph of modern art. That is not history, it is nonsense.

[@jamesanonymous2343]

can't listen to this women for more then 2-3 minutes. terrible delivery.

[@pibly7784]

??

[@sumalbhadrajith5476]

❤