Dandy, Bohemien und Vagabund als Protestfiguren bei Gustave Courbet und in der französischen Kunst des 19. Jahrhunderts

The distinguished dandy, the rakish bohemian with shabby clothes, and the wandering vagabond with no fixed abode have all been from time immemorial protest figures, rebels against established social norms and political systems. Many 19th-century French artists were fascinated by the habitus and unconventional lifestyle of these outsider figures, who became a canvas onto which ideas critical of society could be projected. In particular Gustave Courbet (1819-1877), who was linked with socialism and later with anarchism, adapted these social types in some of his self-portraits, subtly stylising them into artistic expressions of his own political rebellion. This study uses iconographical and iconological methods to examine Courbet’s self-portraits in their socio-historical context, and focuses above all on a careful analysis of details with political connotations such as clothes or hair and beard styles. Also taken into consideration, alongside prints by Paul Gavarni, Honoré Daumier, Émile Pauquet, Nicolas-Toussaint Charlet and Charles Joseph Traviès, are the depictions of types from Les Français peints par eux mêmes and Le Diable à Paris, satirical magazines, and revolutionary graphics.