Bruyas Collection Makes Rare Showing at Legion of Honor

Courtesy photo

The 1854 painting by Gustave Courbet, "The Meeting," is one of the featured paintings of the Alfred Bruyas Collection now showing at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor. In the painting, Courbet (right) greets his patron Bruyas (center) along with Bruyas' servant.

By Judith Kahn

Bonjour, monsieur! The Alfred Bruyas collection from the Musee Fabre, Montpelier, is a unique collection of French masterpieces. 

This is the first time the collection has been on tour in the United States. It is composed of 70 works, including 40 paintings, 20 drawings and six sculptures, by various artists, including Gustave Courbet, Eugene Delacroix, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Jean-Francois Millet, Alexandre Cabanel and Antoine-Louis Barye.

Bruyas collected works from some of the most Avant Garde artists of his day. The collection encompasses romanticism, as well as realism, styles.

There are two paintings featured at the exhibition.

One is Courbet's painting, "The Bathers." Courbet submitted paintings to the 1853 Paris Salon, the annual juried art exhibition staged by the French government. At that time, the painting met with an outpouring of critical rebuke. The Empress Eugenie compared the large female nude in the painting to a draft horse and it was criticized because of its scale. Such a large canvas was usually reserved for paintings of history, religion or mythology. In addition, both the clothing on the branch beside her and the dress of the accompanying servant implied she was of the middle-class. Many commentators said no respectable bourgeoisie would have gone bathing in that manner.

The other painting is "The Meeting." The painting depicts the moment of Courbet's initial arrival. Further research suggests that it is a depiction of a reunion, after Courbet's four-month stay in the south of France. "The Meeting" was criticized because Courbet inverted the traditional formal artist/patron relationship. The image of Courbet takes precedence, in both size and importance, which led one critic to label it "fortune saluting genius."

Bruyas (1821-1877) was one of France's leading collectors of the contemporary art.  His collection was one of the first philanthropic gifts to a French museum. The son of a stockbroker, he studied painting from 1840 to 1842 and began collecting drawings, notably, those of Eugene Devoir. 

He refused to follow the banking career, chosen for him by his family and fled to Italy, where he toured Naples, Florence, Rome and Venice. He frequently visited the Villa Medici, site of the French Academy in Rome, and mixed with resident artists. It was at this point that he began his career as a patron and collector of the arts.

Bruyas commissioned numerous portraits of himself from his favorite artists. In this exhibition, there are nine images of him. It is interesting to note how differently the various artists viewed him. In one painting, he is seen offering ideas to the painters for their compositions. One painter is relegated to the corner of the room, preparing his pallet while facing Bruyas, who is seated before the easel.

He felt that, as a patron of the arts, he could "lift the individual toward goodness, and assist in the course of social progress."  Bruyas would seek out artists with whom he could collaborate and creatively engage.

The exhibit will only be on view at several U.S. cities. It is at the Palace of the Legion of Honor through April 3. Admission, including surcharge, is $10 for adults, $8 for seniors over 65 and $5 for young adults 12-17. Children under 12 are admitted free.

For more information on the exhibit at the Palace of the Legion of Honor, 100 34th Ave., call (415) 750-3614 or go to the website at www.legionofhonor.org.