Few artists have been so directly invoved in the events of their time as Gustave Courbert. Amid the social transformations of the mid-19th century, Courberts unconventional and stark paintings came to embody values with radical political implications. Rebuffed by the Parisian art world and attacked as a Realist, he seized upon that name to assert his sympathy for ordinary citizens and their down-to-earth experience. Coubert painted subjects from the world around him: from rural labourersand family gatherings to sensuous landscapes, hunting scenes, still lifes, portraits and erotic nudes. James Rubin addresses the full range of Courbet's work and combines a close reading of the paintings with a discussion of the personal, political, economic and social circumstances in which they were created.