Stag In An Autumn Landscape 

Curator: Rosa Bonheur is thought to be the artist behind this work entitled "Stag in an Autumn Landscape." The medium here appears to be oil paint. Editor: I'm immediately struck by how realistic this painting is! It gives the impression that it could almost be a photograph. The coloring seems somewhat muted, almost melancholic, especially given the title references autumn. Curator: Bonheur's dedication to accurately portraying animals, specifically, reveals broader societal interests, and also certain politics in 19th century France, where paintings like these found space in prestigious salons. How do you think its material construction reflects that world? Editor: Well, looking closer at brushstrokes, I notice there's a palpable texture, as though she layered paint quite deliberately to give the stag weight, presence. The browns and greens used definitely indicate available pigments, which, like canvases, speak to growing industrialized art supply chains. One also has to wonder how much preliminary work like studies were involved to achieve this degree of realism in portraying the animal's anatomy and in rendering that fur. Curator: Absolutely. Bonheur broke conventions both in her subject matter and life; defying expectations to become one of the most renowned animal painters. This reflects, in some sense, shifting class boundaries of who was able to patronize and produce art at the time. The detail is astounding considering assumptions made about art, animals, and gender then. Editor: Her dedication to the craft seems immense. The light reflecting off of the stag's fur is beautifully handled and the landscape creates a depth for our subject to inhabit that doesn’t overwhelm but sets the tone perfectly. Curator: It brings us back to the original placement of artworks, within changing structures of art worlds and what it communicates regarding prevailing societal values regarding the rural, animal, and labor as an expression in itself. Editor: Thinking of the resources needed for a canvas of this size, all the layers of paints… the act of depiction transforms basic material elements into symbols loaded with social meaning, no matter the content.