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A Dog's Purpose (film)
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A Dog's Purpose
Theatrical release poster
Directed by
Lasse Hallström
Produced by
Gavin Polone
Screenplay by
W. Bruce Cameron
Cathryn Michon
Audrey Wells
Maya Forbes
Wally Wolodarsky
Based on
A Dog's Purpose
by W. Bruce Cameron
Starring
Dennis Quaid
Britt Robertson
Josh Gad
KJ Apa
Juliet Rylance
John Ortiz
Kirby Howell-Baptiste
Peggy Lipton
Bryce Gheisar
Narrated by
Josh Gad
Music by
Rachel Portman[1]
Cinematography
Terry Stacey
Edited by
Robert Leighton
Production
company
Amblin Entertainment
Reliance Entertainment
Walden Media
Pariah Entertainment
Distributed by
Universal Pictures
Release date
January 27, 2017 (2017-01-27)
Running time
98 minutes[2]
Country
United States
Language
English
Budget
$22 million[3][4]
Box office
$201 million[3]
A Dog's Purpose is a 2017 American comedy-drama film directed by Lasse Hallström and written by W. Bruce Cameron, Cathryn Michon, Audrey Wells, Maya Forbes and Wally Wolodarsky, based on the 2010 novel of the same name by Cameron. The film stars Britt Robertson, KJ Apa, Juliet Rylance, John Ortiz, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Peggy Lipton, Dennis Quaid and Josh Gad.
A week prior to the film's release, a video surfaced on TMZ showing footage taken from the set of the film, which showed a German Shepherd dragged and dipped into rushing water while visibly resisting. After initial backlash, it was determined the video had been deliberately edited to mislead viewers.[5]
The film is a co-production between Amblin Entertainment, Reliance Entertainment, Walden Media and Pariah Entertainment Group.[6][7] It was released by Universal Pictures on January 27, 2017, and grossed $201 million worldwide.
Contents
[hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Production
4 Release
4.1 Box office
4.2 Critical response
4.3 Home media
5 Animal abuse allegations
5.1 Initial reaction
5.2 Validity of the video
6 Sequel
7 See also
8 References
9 External links
Plot[edit]
In the 1950s, a feral puppy named Toby is whisked away to the dog pound and quickly euthanized, wondering if "fun" truly is life's purpose.
His strong spirit is reborn and reincarnated as a newborn Retriever puppy in 1961, Toby leaves his cage at a puppy mill and is found by two garbage men who plan to sell him for their own profit. They leave to drink and Toby is spotted locked inside their pick-up truck by a young boy named Ethan and his mother, who rescue him from the brink of death by heatstroke. After they convince Ethan's father, the dog is allowed to stay and renamed Bailey.
Bailey and Ethan bond quickly, especially over the summer when the family visits Ethan's maternal grandparents' farm, and Bailey now believes Ethan alone is his purpose. Years pass and after several attempts at advancing in his job failed, Ethan's father has become a deadbeat alcoholic, though teenage Ethan still tries to respect him - inviting him to a football game now that he has been named starting quarterback.
Over the summer, Ethan goes to a fair with Bailey and meets Hannah, who he quickly begins dating, with Bailey referring to her as "part of the pack". Ethan and Hannah spend their summer happy together though their senior years are upcoming, but they plan to go to the same school; popular Ethan getting a football scholarship and Hannah following him on an academic one. When he goes home one night though, Ethan's father is drunk and shouting at Ethan's mother. He turns on Ethan then and when his mother tries to keep them separated, he shoves her to the ground. Ethan orders his father to leave and never come back, and becomes "the leader of the pack."
Later, at a game watched by scouts, Ethan is offered a full 4-year scholarship to Michigan State, but that night a vindictive classmate named Todd throws a lit firecracker into Ethan's house as a prank, which unintentionally results in a house fire. Bailey alerts Ethan, who goes to save his mother. Unable to get out of the door, they head out through his mother's bedroom window upstair. Ethan first lowers her with her sheets to the neighbors below, then Bailey — but when trying to jump himself, Ethan badly fractures his leg, ending his dreams of an athletic scholarship. Bailey attacks Todd, who is apprehended by the police. Instead Ethan must go to an agricultural school where he will learn to take over his grandparents' farm. Falling into depression, self-pity and bitterness, he grudgingly breaks off his romance with Hannah before leaving for college. Sometime afterwards, an aged Bailey slowly expires at the veterinarian's office after sharing an eleventh-hour teary goodbye with Ethan.
Bailey reincarnates into another dog life, a female German Shepherd Police dog named Ellie, sometime in the late 1970s/early 1980s, while possessing full memories and experiences of his past lives. Ellie is partnered with a widowed officer named Carlos from the Chicago Police Department, and works hard at "showing" and "finding", now seeing the job as life's purpose. The two form a close relationship which ends after Ellie jumps into a rushing river and saves a kidnapped girl from drowning, and is then fatally shot during a struggle with the armed kidnapper who was a moment away from killing an unsuspecting Carlos.
Reborn again in the mid-1980s as a Pembroke Welsh Corgi, he forms a bond with an Atlanta college student named Maya who names him Tino. Maya is lonely, which Tino, having bonded closely with the girl, realizes, and makes his purpose to find her some happiness. She starts a relationship with another classmate named Al who she begins seeing after Tino falls for Al's dog, a black and white Landseer named Roxie, and allows her to open up to him. Maya and Al marry and have 3 children who all love the Corgi. In love with Roxie (though she does not seem to reciprocate the romance), Tino is permanently heartbroken when one day she does not return from the vet. As he lies dying of old age in the late 1990s, Tino thanks Maya for giving him one of his best lives.
Bailey is again reborn and reincarnated, this time, as a St. Bernard-Australian Shepherd mix, sometime during the next decade, only to be taken in by an abusive and neglectful urban couple who name him Waffles. Waffles is eventually dumped in an abandoned lot and reluctantly sets off in search of a new life. Walking past a dog park and remembering how long it had been since he played, Waffles meets a dog and her human who hold a familiar scent to him, though he knows neither of them. He gradually makes his way to the country area where he spent summers as Bailey without even realizing at first where he is headed. He joyfully reunites with his old master Ethan, who is now somewhere in his 50s, living a lonely life and apparently broken in spirit at his Grandparents' old farm, which he now owns and runs. Ethan, of course, initially has no idea who this wandering dog really is and hands him over to the local animal shelter. But he soon has a change of heart and reclaims him, naming him Buddy. Buddy, sensing that he has finally found the true purpose of life that has long evaded him, finds a way to reunite Ethan with a widowed Hannah, and they eventually get married.
Buddy finally convinces Ethan that he is his beloved childhood pet by performing some tricks and responding to key phrases that were known only to the two of them all those many, many long years ago. The dog in voiceover tells the viewer that life is about having fun; saving others; not getting caught in the past or regrets; finding someone to be with; and living for today.
Cast[edit]
Josh Gad as the voice of Toby, Bailey, Ellie, Tino, Waffles and Buddy.
Dennis Quaid as Ethan Montgomery (adult)[8]
KJ Apa as teenage Ethan Montgomery[8]
Bryce Gheisar as eight-year old Ethan Montgomery
Juliet Rylance as Elizabeth Montgomery, Ethan's mother.[8]
Peggy Lipton as Hannah (adult)[8]
Britt Robertson as young Hannah[8]
John Ortiz as Carlos Ruiz
Kirby Howell-Baptiste as Maya
Pooch Hall as Al[9]
Luke Kirby as Jim Montgomery, Ethan's father
Michael Bofshever as Bill, Ethan's grandfather
Gabrielle Rose as Fran, Ethan's grandmother
Logan Miller as Todd, the vindictive classmate
Production[edit]
In 2015, DreamWorks acquired the film rights for Cameron's novel.[10] On May 8, 2015, it was announced Lasse Hallström would direct the film.[11] On August 5, 2015, Britt Robertson and Dennis Quaid joined the cast.[8] On September 18, 2015, Pooch Hall was cast in the film.[9] On October 15, 2015, Bradley Cooper joined the cast to play the dog's inner voice.[12] He was eventually replaced by Josh Gad.[13] Principal photography began on August 17, 2015.[14]
Release[edit]
In December 2015, the film switched from a DreamWorks Pictures release to under the Amblin Entertainment banner as per Amblin Partners' newly enacted branded strategy.[15] The film was released by Universal Pictures on January 27, 2017.[16] Universal also distributed it overseas, except for countries where Mister Smith Entertainment handled international sales.
Box office[edit]
A Dog's Purpose has grossed $64.3 million in the United States and Canada and $136.7 million in other territories for a worldwide gross of $201 million, against a production budget of $22 million.[3]
In North America was released alongside Resident Evil: The Final Chapter and Gold, and was projected to gross $18–22 million from 3,050 theaters in its opening weekend, slightly lower than initial $27 million tracking had the film debuting to before boycotts against the film were called for.[4] It made $466,000 from Thursday night previews and $5.3 million on its first day. It ended up debuting to $18.2 million, finishing second at the box office behind the second weekend of Universal's own Split.[17] The film dropped 40.6% in its second weekend, grossing $10.8 million and finishing third at the box office.[18]
Critical response[edit]
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 30% based on 121 reviews, and an average rating of 4.7/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "A Dog's Purpose offers an awkward blend of sugary sentiment and canine suffering that tugs at animal-loving audiences' heartstrings with shameless abandon."[19] On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating, the film has a score 43 out of 100, based on 32 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[20] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.[21]
Home media[edit]
A Dog's Purpose was released on digital HD on April 18, 2017, and was followed by a release on Blu-ray and DVD on May 2, 2017, from Universal Studios Home Entertainment.[22][23] The film topped the home video sales chart for the week ending on May 7, 2017.[24]
Animal abuse allegations[edit]
Initial reaction[edit]
On January 18, 2017, a video surfaced on TMZ showing footage taken from the set of the film, which shows a German Shepherd named Hercules being dragged and dipped into rushing water while visibly resisting.[25] After a cut in the video, the next clip shows the dog being submerged in the water at the other end of the tank while a voice on set can be heard shouting "CUT IT!", and various people are then seen rushing towards the dog.[26] The American Humane Association, which ensures that animals are not harmed in entertainment productions, announced that its representative on set had been suspended over the incident, and that the incident is under further investigation.[27][28] PETA called for a boycott of the film.[29] Actor Josh Gad, who voices the dog in the movie, was not on set during the making of the film, but stated that he was "shaken and sad to see any animal put in a situation against its will".[30] Due to the release of the video, Universal Pictures cancelled the film's scheduled January 19 Los Angeles premiere.[31]
Director Lasse Hallström stated on Twitter that he "did not witness" the actions in the video, and was "very disturbed" by the footage.[32]
Validity of the video[edit]
Amblin Entertainment released a statement in regards to the incident, saying that "on the day of the shoot, Hercules did not want to perform the stunt portrayed on the tape so the Amblin production team did not proceed with filming that shot", and that "Hercules is happy and healthy".[33]
Dennis Quaid also came out against the TMZ video, stating that the video did not tell the whole story, saying:
My experience is that the animals were treated great. There was no animal abuse. That video that someone took and sold for money and held on to for a year and a half until right before the film's coming out, does not tell the whole story. First of all, it's been edited and manipulated. And I think it's a scam, to tell you the truth. What they (the viewers of the video) saw was completely out of context. It was edited...and all of the footage I saw, the dog was going into the water happily and had to be restrained, actually, from going into the water many times during that day.
Quaid also said that the video was shot towards the end of the day and I would not say, in real context, that the dog was frightened. The dog was acting like a dog who was kind of tired of taking a bath and was ready to get out. And, in fact, that's what happened. They took the dog out.[34]
On February 4, 2017, the American Humane Association reported that an independent third-party animal-cruelty expert had concluded that safety measures on the set of the film were in place and the video had been deliberately edited to mislead the public.[5]
The film was released with AHAD approval number 06202.
Sequel[edit]
On June 21, 2017, CEO of Amblin Entertainment Michael Wright announced that a sequel was in development.[35]
See also[edit]
Oh! Heavenly Dog (1980 film)
Fluke (1995 film)
Quigley (2003 film)
References[edit]
Jump up ^ "Rachel Portman Scoring Lasse Hallstrom’s ‘A Dog’s Purpose’ - Film Music Reporter". filmmusicreporter.com. Retrieved 19 January 2017.
Jump up ^ http://www.bbfc.co.uk/releases/dogs-purpose-2017
^ Jump up to: a b c "A Dog's Purpose (2017)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved August 12, 2017.
^ Jump up to: a b "Box Office: Can ‘A Dog’s Purpose’ Still Win the Weekend After Canine Controversy?". Variety. Retrieved January 24, 2017.
^ Jump up to: a b "Third Party Investigation Finds No Animal Injuries, Cruelty on Set of 'A Dog's Purpose'". The Hollywood Reporter. February 4, 2017. Retrieved February 4, 2017.
Jump up ^ Scheck, Frank (January 24, 2017). "'A Dog's Purpose': Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved February 3, 2017. Production companies: Amblin Entertainment, Reliance Entertainment, Walden Media, Pariah Entertainment Group Distributor: Universal Pictures
Jump up ^ Barker, Andrew (January 24, 2016). "Film Review: ‘A Dog’s Purpose’". Variety. Retrieved March 7, 2017. A Universal Pictures release of an Amblin Entertainment and Reliance Entertainment presentation in association with Walden Media of a Pariah production
^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Kit, Borys. "Britt Robertson, Dennis Quaid Join DreamWorks' 'A Dog's Purpose' (Exclusive)". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2015-10-25.
^ Jump up to: a b Lincoln, Ross A. (2015-09-18). "Pooch Hall Joins ‘A Dog’s Purpose’, Doug McKeon Will Run With ‘LBJ’". Deadline. Retrieved 2015-10-25.
Jump up ^ Kit, Borys (September 16, 2016). "Bradley Cooper in Talks to Voice 'A Dog's Purpose' (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved September 17, 2016.
Jump up ^ Fleming, Mike (2015-05-08). "‘A Dog’s Purpose’ Set At DreamWorks With Lasse Hallstrom To Direct". Deadline. Retrieved 2015-10-25.
Jump up ^ Kit, Borys (2015-10-15). "'A Dog's Purpose': Bradley Cooper in Talks to Voice". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2015-10-25.
Jump up ^ "Josh Gad is Reincarnated Over and Over in the A Dog's Purpose Trailer". 2016-08-26. Retrieved 2016-08-26.
Jump up ^ "On the Set for 8/21/15: Eddie Redmayne Starts Fantastic Beasts, Russo Brothers Wrap Up Captain America: Civil War". SSN Insider. 2015-08-21. Retrieved 2015-10-25.
Jump up ^ Busch, Anita (December 16, 2016). "It’s Official: Spielberg, DreamWorks, Participant, eOne, Others Pact For Amblin Partners". Deadline.com. Retrieved November 6, 2016.
Jump up ^ Busch, Anita (2015-09-22). "‘A Dog’s Purpose’ Movie Based On Best-Selling Book To Unleash In 2017". Deadline. Retrieved 2016-01-27.
Jump up ^ "Is Controversy Impacting ‘A Dog’s Purpose’ At The Box Office?". Deadline.com.
Jump up ^ "‘Split’ Dings ‘Rings’; Auds Keep Distance From ‘Space’; ‘Comedian’ Bombs: Sunday Update". Deadline.com.
Jump up ^ "A Dog's Purpose (2017)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved February 18, 2017.
Jump up ^ "A Dog's Purpose reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
Jump up ^ "CinemaScore". cinemascore.com. [permanent dead link]
Jump up ^ A Dog's Purpose (2017) DVD Release Dates, Retrieved April 30, 2017
Jump up ^ A Dog's Purpose Blu-ray Blu-ray.com, Retrieved April 30, 2017
Jump up ^ Thomas K. Arnold (May 10, 2017). "‘A Dog’s Purpose’ Leads the Pack in DVD, Blu-ray Disc Sales". Variety. Retrieved May 11, 2017.
Jump up ^ Leigh Blickley (18 January 2017). "Leaked Video From ‘A Dog’s Purpose’ Set Calls Film’s Treatment Of Animals Into Question". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 18 January 2017.
Jump up ^ "'A Dog's Purpose' Video Shows Terrified German Shepherd Forced to Film". tmz.com. Retrieved 19 January 2017.
Jump up ^ "'A Dog's Purpose' Video Triggers Suspension". TMZ. January 18, 2017. Retrieved January 18, 2017.
Jump up ^ Catherine Garcia (18 January 2017). "Investigation opened into 'disturbing' treatment of German shepherd on set of A Dog's Purpose". The Week. Retrieved 18 January 2017.
Jump up ^ "PETA Calls for Boycott of ‘A Dog’s Purpose’ After Disturbing Video Surfaces", Dave McNary. Variety. January 18, 2017. Accessed January 18, 2017
Jump up ^ Sandra Gondalez (19 January 2017). "'A Dog's Purpose' faces backlash after 'disturbing' video surfaces". CNN.com. Retrieved 17 January 2017.
Jump up ^ "Universal Pictures cancels premiere of 'A Dog's Purpose'". 20 January 2017.
Jump up ^ Bryan Alexander (19 January 2017). "'A Dog's Purpose' reels after outrage over disturbing set video". USA Today. Retrieved 19 January 2017.
Jump up ^ Karen Mizoguchi (19 January 2017). "A Dog's Purpose Releases Statement Following Controversial Video: We 'Foster an Ethical, Safe Environment for Animals'". People. Retrieved 19 January 2017.
Jump up ^ John Boone (23 January 2017). "EXCLUSIVE: Dennis Quaid Shuts Down 'A Dog's Purpose' Abuse Allegations: 'I Would Have Walked'". ETOnline. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
Jump up ^ http://www.slashfilm.com/a-dogs-purpose-sequel/
External links[edit]
Official website
A Dog's Purpose on IMDb
A Dog's Purpose at Rotten Tomatoes
[hide]
v
t
e
Films directed by Lasse Hallström
A Guy and a Gal (1975)
ABBA: The Movie (1977)
Father to Be (1979)
Tuppen (1981)
Happy We (1983)
My Life as a Dog (1985)
The Children of Noisy Village (1986)
More About the Children of Noisy Village (1987)
Once Around (1991)
What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)
Something to Talk About (1995)
The Cider House Rules (1999)
Chocolat (2000)
The Shipping News (2001)
An Unfinished Life (2005)
Casanova (2005)
The Hoax (2007)
Hachi: A Dog's Tale (2009)
Dear John (2010)
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (2011)
The Hypnotist (2012)
Safe Haven (2013)
The Hundred-Foot Journey (2014)
A Dog's Purpose (2017)
The Nutcracker and the Four Realms (2018)
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L'Origine du monde
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
L'Origine du monde
Artist
Gustave Courbet
Year
1866
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
46 cm × 55 cm (18 in × 22 in)
Location
Musée d'Orsay, Paris
L'Origine du monde ("The Origin of the World") is a picture painted in oil on canvas by the French artist Gustave Courbet in 1866. It is a close-up view of the genitals and abdomen of a naked woman, lying on a bed with legs spread. The framing of the nude body, with head, arms and lower legs outside of view, emphasizes the eroticism of the work.
Contents
[hide]
1 History
1.1 Identity of the model
1.2 Owners
1.3 Provocative work
1.4 Influence
2 Filmography
3 References
4 External links
History[edit]
La belle Irlandaise (Portrait of Jo) by Courbet, painting of Joanna Hiffernan, the probable model for L'Origine du monde
Identity of the model[edit]
At the time Courbet was working on the painting his favourite model was a young woman, Joanna Hiffernan, also known as Jo. Her lover at the time was the American painter James Whistler, a friend of Courbet.
Courbet did another painting in 1866, La belle Irlandaise (Portrait of Jo), whose model was Hiffernan. During his whole career, Courbet did four portraits of Hiffernan. She was probably the model for L'Origine du monde,[1][2] which might explain Courbet's and Whistler's brutal separation a short while later. Whistler then returned to London. In spite of Hiffernan's red hair contrasting with the darker pubic hair of L'Origine du monde, the hypothesis that Hiffernan was the model for it continues. In her RED: A Natural History of the Redhead Jacky Colliss Harvey puts forward the idea that the woman's body-hair suggests a more obvious candidate might be the brunette painted with Hiffernan in Courbet's Le Sommeil; and that the identification with Hiffernan has been greatly influenced by the eroticised and sexualised image of the female redhead.[3]
The putative upper section of L'Origine du monde
Symphony in White, No. 1: The White Girl by James Whistler, another painting of Joanna Hiffernan
In February 2013, Paris Match reported that Courbet expert Jean-Jacques Fernier had authenticated a painting of a young woman's head and shoulders as the upper section of L'Origine du monde which according to some was severed from the original work. Fernier has stated that because of the conclusions reached after two years of analysis, the head will be added to the next edition of the Courbet catalogue raisonné.[1][4] The Musée d'Orsay has indicated that L'Origine du monde was not part of a larger work.[5]
The Daily Telegraph reported that "experts at the [French] art research centre CARAA (Centre d'Analyses et de Recherche en Art et Archéologie) were able to align the two paintings via grooves made by the original wooden frame and lines in the canvas itself, whose grain matched."[1] According to CARAA, it performed pigment analyses which were identified as classical pigments of the 2nd half of the 19th century. No other conclusions were reported by the CARAA.[6] The claim reported by Paris Match was characterized as dubious by Le Monde art critic Philippe Dagen, indicating differences in style, and that canvas-similarities could be caused by buying from the same shop.[7]
Owners[edit]
The commission for L'Origine du monde is believed to have come from Khalil Bey, an Ottoman diplomat, former ambassador of the Ottoman Empire in Athens and Saint Petersburg who had just moved to Paris. Sainte-Beuve introduced him to Courbet and he ordered a painting to add to his personal collection of erotic pictures, which already included Le Bain turc (The Turkish Bath) from Ingres and another painting by Courbet, Le Sommeil (The Sleepers), for which it is supposed that Hiffernan was one of the models.
After Khalil-Bey's finances were ruined by gambling, the painting subsequently passed through a series of private collections. It was first bought during the sale of the Khalil-Bey collection in 1868, by antique dealer Antoine de la Narde. Edmond de Goncourt hit upon it in an antique shop in 1889, hidden behind a wooden pane decorated with the painting of a castle or a church in a snowy landscape. According to Robert Fernier, who published two volumes of the Courbet catalogue raisonné and founded the Musée Courbet, Hungarian collector Baron Ferenc Hatvany bought it at the Bernheim-Jeune gallery in 1910 and took it with him to Budapest. Towards the end of the Second World War, the painting was looted by Soviet troops but ransomed by Hatvany who, when he emigrated, was allowed to take only one art work with him, and he took L'Origine to Paris.[8]
In 1955 L'Origine du monde was sold at auction for 1.5 million francs, about 4285 US dollars at the time.[9] Its new owner was the psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan. Together with his wife, actress Sylvia Bataille, he installed it in their country house in Guitrancourt. Lacan asked André Masson, his stepbrother, to build a double bottom frame and draw another picture thereon. Masson painted a surrealist, allusive version of L'Origine du monde.[10][11]
The New York public had the opportunity to view L'Origine du monde in 1988 during the Courbet Reconsidered show at the Brooklyn Museum; the painting was also included in the exhibition Gustave Courbet at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2008. After Lacan died in 1981, the French Minister of Economy and Finances agreed to settle the family's inheritance tax bill through the transfer of the work ("Dation en paiement" in French law) to the Musée d'Orsay, an act which was finalized in 1995.
Provocative work[edit]
During the 19th century, the display of the nude body underwent a revolution whose main activists were Courbet and Manet. Courbet rejected academic painting and its smooth, idealised nudes, but he also directly recriminated the hypocritical social conventions of the Second Empire, where eroticism and even pornography were acceptable in mythological or oneiric paintings.
Courbet later insisted he never lied in his paintings, and his realism pushed the limits of what was considered presentable. With L'Origine du monde, he has made even more explicit the eroticism of Manet's Olympia. Maxime Du Camp, in a harsh tirade, reported his visit to the work's purchaser, and his sight of a painting "giving realism's last word".
By the very nature of its realistic, graphic nudity, the painting still has the power to shock and triggers censorship (see below).
Influence[edit]
The explicitness of the picture may have served as an inspiration, albeit with a satirical twist, for Marcel Duchamp's last major work, Étant donnés (1946–1966), a construction also featuring the image of a woman lying on her back with her legs spread.[12]
In 1989, French artist Orlan created the cibachrome L'origine de la guerre (The Origin of War), a male version of L'origine du monde showing a penile erection.[13]
L'Origine du monde in the Musée d'Orsay
In February 1994, the novel Adorations perpétuelles (Perpetual Adorations) by Jacques Henric (fr) reproduced L'Origine du monde on its cover. Police visited several French bookshops to have them withdraw the book from their windows. A few proprietors maintained the book, but others complied, and some voluntarily removed it.
On February 23, 2009, a similar situation happened in Braga, Portugal, when the police confiscated the book Pornocratie by Catherine Breillat, displayed in bookshops using L'Origine du monde as its cover.[14] A great deal of controversy was sparked by the police action. The reason given was the need to maintain public order. Also, the book title incorrectly hinted at pornographic content. Portuguese law forbids public displays of pornography.
In 2002, American artist Jack Daws created an homage to the painting. Entitled Origins of the World, it is a collection of various photographs of vulvas, taken from pornographic magazines, and framed in montage.[15]
In February 2011, Facebook censored L'Origine du monde after it was posted by Copenhagen-based artist Frode Steinicke, to illustrate his comments about a television program aired on DR2. Following the incident, many other Facebook users defiantly changed their profile pictures to the Courbet painting in an act of solidarity with Steinicke. Facebook, which originally disabled Steinicke's profile, finally re-enabled it without the L'Origine du monde picture. As the case won media attention, Facebook deleted other pages about the painting.[16][17]
In October 2011, again, a complaint was lodged against Facebook with the Tribunal de grande instance de Paris (Paris court of general jurisdiction) by a French Facebook user after his profile was disabled for showing a picture of L'Origine du monde. The picture was a link to a television program aired on Arte about the history of the painting. As he got no answer to his emails to Facebook, he decided to lodge a complaint for "infringement of freedom of expression" and against the legality of Facebook's terms which define the courts located in Santa Clara County, California, as the exclusive place of jurisdiction for all litigating claims.[18] In February 2016 the Paris court ruled that Facebook could be sued in France.[19]
Although moral standards and resulting taboos regarding the artistic display of nudity have changed since Courbet, owing especially to photography and cinema, the painting remained provocative. Its arrival at the Musée d'Orsay caused high excitement. According to postcard sales, L'Origine du monde is the second most popular painting in the Musée d'Orsay, after Renoir's Bal du moulin de la Galette.[20]
The Serbian performance artist Tanja Ostojić parodied the work in a poster in 2005, informally called the "EU panties" poster. Like Courbet's painting, the poster proved controversial, and was ultimately removed from the art exhibition in which it was originally displayed.
The image is also referenced as inspiring Catherine Breillat's filming of the female genitalia in her 2004 film Anatomie de l'enfer (Anatomy of Hell).[21]
In 2010, British composer Tony Hymas composed De l'origine du monde a musical suite dedicated to the picture as well as relations between Courbet and the Paris Commune, based on texts by Courbet himself, Charles Baudelaire and Pierre Dupont.[citation needed]
The British artist Anish Kapoor created an installation called Origine du monde, which references Courbet's painting. The piece is in the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa in Japan.[22]
The German-born Turkish artist Taner Ceylan has painted a work named 1879 (From the Lost Paintings Series) (2011) in which a veiled Ottoman noblewoman stands before the framed canvas of L'Origine du monde.[23][24]
On 29 May 2014, a Luxembourg performance artist, Deborah De Robertis, sat on the floor in front of the painting and mimicked the view of the subject, and then security guards closed the room and police arrested her.[25]
Filmography[edit]
Jean Paul Fargier, L'Origine du monde, 1996, 26 minutes[26]
References[edit]
Notes
^ Jump up to: a b c "Amateur art buff finds £35 million head of Courbet masterpiece" by Henry Samuel, The Daily Telegraph, 7 February 2013.
Jump up ^ Noël, Benoit; Hournon, Jean. "Gustave Courbet – L'Origine du Monde, 1866". Parisiana – La capitale des peintres au XIXème siècle (in French). Les Presses Franciliennes. p. 37. ISBN 9782952721400.
Jump up ^ Colliss Harvey, Jacky (2015). RED: A History of the Redhead. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal. pp. 119–120. ISBN 978-1-57912-996-5.
Jump up ^ "L'Origine du monde: Le secret de la femme cachée". Paris Match (in French). 7 February 2013.
Jump up ^ "Has the head of The Origin of the World been found?". The Telegraph. 10 February 2013. Retrieved 11 February 2013.
Jump up ^ "Summary of analytical report – Painting on canvas, portrait of a woman" Archived 2015-02-17 at the Wayback Machine., Centre d'Analyses et de Recherche en Art et Archéologie, 7 February 2013
Jump up ^ Ruadhán Mac Cormaic (9 February 2013). "Art collector claims to have found top part of Courbet's Origin of the World". The Irish Times. Retrieved 11 February 2013.
Jump up ^ "The Mysterious Journey of an Erotic Masterpiece" by Konstantin Akinsha, ARTnews, 1 February 2008
Jump up ^ "Measuring Worth - Relative Worth Comparators and Data Sets". www.measuringworth.com.
Jump up ^ Lacan and the Matter of Origins by Shuli Barzilai, p. 8
Jump up ^ "courbet - origin of the world". www.lacan.com.
Jump up ^ "Femalic Molds", The Marcel Duchamp Studies Online Journal (toutfait.com), 1 April 2003/5 May 2016
Jump up ^ http://www.loeildelaphotographie.com/2013/11/27/exhibition/23329/orlan-l-origine-de-la-guerre-orsay-masculin-masculin
Jump up ^ Lusa (23 February 2009). "PSP apreende livros por considerar pornográfica capa com quadro de Courbet" (in Portuguese). Archived from the original on 25 May 2009. Retrieved 24 February 2009.
Jump up ^ Jack Daws, Origins of the World, 2002. http://www.gregkucera.com/_images/daws/daws_origin.jpg
Jump up ^ Emily Greenberg "Facebook, Censorship and Art" Archived 2011-11-05 at the Wayback Machine., Cornell Daily Sun, 8 March 2011
Jump up ^ Dépêche AFP du 17/02/10 "L'Origine du monde de Courbet interdit de Facebook pour cause de nudité"
Jump up ^ "L'Origine du monde assigne Facebook en justice", Le Point, 24 October 2011
Jump up ^ "Facebook in landmark censorship case after banning French user who posted naked artwork" The Independent 13 February 2016
Jump up ^ Hutchinson, Mark (8 August 2007). "The history of The Origin of the World". The Times Literary Supplement. London. (subscription required)
Jump up ^ "Catherine Breillat, cinéaste", interview by Laurent Devanne, Radio libertaire (1 February 2004)
Jump up ^ "金沢21世紀美術館". 金沢21世紀美術館.
Jump up ^ Harris, Garreth (12 September 2014). "Up front and personal: Turkish artist Taner Ceylan". Financial Times. Retrieved 4 October 2017.
Jump up ^ "Taner Ceylan 1879 (FROM THE LOST PAINTING SERIES)". Sothebys. Retrieved 4 October 2017.
Jump up ^ "An artist has been arrested (again) for a nude stunt in a Paris gallery". 18 January 2016.
Jump up ^ "Documentaire de Jean-Paul Fargier" (in French). arte tv. 2 November 2007. Archived from the original on 29 December 2008. Retrieved 14 July 2008.
Sources
Dagen, Philippe. "Le Musée d'Orsay dévoile L'Origine du monde". Le Monde. , 21 June 1995
Dagen, Philippe. "Sexe, peinture et secret". Le Monde. , 22 October 1996
Du Camp, Maxime (1878). Les Convulsions de Paris.
Lechien, Isabelle Enaud. James Whistler. ACR Édition.
Guégan, Stéphane; Michèle Haddad. L'ABCdaire de Courbet. Flammarion.
Florence Noiville, "Le retour du puritanisme", Le Monde, 25 March 1994
Savatier, Thierry (2006). L'Origine du monde, histoire d'un tableau de Gustave Courbet. Paris: Bartillat.
Schlesser, Thomas (2005). "L'Origine du monde". Dictionnaire de la pornographie. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
Teyssèdre, Bernard (1996). Le roman de l'Origine, Paris. Gallimard.
External links[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to L'Origine du monde.
Musée d'Orsay: L'Origine du monde (in English)
Musée d'Orsay: L'Origine du monde (in French)
Musée d'Orsay: L'Origine du monde – Notice d´Oeuvre (in French)
News from CARAA (in French)
Conference from Musée d'Orsay[permanent dead link] (in French)
Composition of L'Origine du monde
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Gustave Courbet
Paintings
The Stone Breakers (1849)
A Burial At Ornans (1850)
La rencontre (1854)
The Wounded Man (1854)
The Wheat Sifters (1854)
The Painter's Studio (1855)
Les Bas Blancs (1861)
Femme nue couchée (1862)
Portrait of Countess Karoly (1865)
Le ruisseau noir (1865)
L'Origine du monde (1866)
Le Sommeil (1866)
Woman with a Parrot (1866)
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