The Most Arrogant Man in France

A comprehensive reinterpretation of the pioneering and media-savvy artist The modern artist strives to be independent of the public's taste—and yet depends on the public for a living. Petra Chu argues that the French Realist Gustave Courbet (1819-1877) understood this dilemma perhaps better than any painter before him. In The Most Arrogant Man in France , Chu tells the fascinating story of how, in the initial age of mass media and popular high art, this important artist managed to achieve an unp