William-Adolphe Bouguereau (nov 30, 1825 – aug 19, 1905)
Description:
A French academic painter. In his realistic genre paintings he used mythological themes, making modern interpretations of classical subjects, with an emphasis on the female human body.
Bouguereau has the odd distinction of being mainly renowned for his disagreements with other artists, namely the Impressionists, and other avant-garde groupings of the late-19th century. He scorned them for their lack of technical precision, while they abhorred what they saw as Bouguereau's overly fussy, fastidious approach. ~ https://www.theartstory.org/artist-bouguereau-william-adolphe.htm
Degas and his friends used the term ''bouguerated'' to derogate a finicky, overly finished painting surface, and van Gogh put him down as a well- paid maker of ''soft, pretty things.'' And by the end of World War I, their vanguard scorn was vindicated by public taste. Bouguereau's paintings faded away to the basements of museums. ~ https://www.nytimes.com/1985/01/06/arts/art-view-to-bouguereau-art-was-strickly-the-beautiful.html
It was untrue that van Gogh despised Bouguereau's work. Critics like to point to one letter where van Gogh said that he would be able to sell his paintings more readily if he painted pretty things like Bouguereau. They always conveniently overlook another letter in which van Gogh expresses his deep disappointment that he will never be able to draw as well as Bouguereau. This can readily be found in the published letters of Vincent van Gogh . ~ https://www.artrenewal.org/Article/Title/william-bouguereau-and-the-real-19th-century
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History of Arts
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