VAM galleries including this work:
University of Kentucky Art Museum | Animal Farm || VAM Home

This massive painting—nearly four and one-half feet tall and six and one-half feet wide—shows a young woman struggling with a large, unyielding dairy cow. The juxtaposition of the relatively small woman and the immense cow, along with the strong horizontal of the composition and the woman’s dramatic leaned-back stance, all enhance the expression of strain and effort conveyed by the figure.

In both scale and subject matter, this piece is a good example of the work of French Realist Julien Dupré. He specialized in paintings of field labor, a complex subject that allowed him to display his skill at interrelating animals within a landscape. These large-scale paintings also extolled the virtues of peasant life. The freely brushed grass suggests that he studied the techniques of the Impressionists; the carefully modeled human and animal forms and subtle use of light come from his academic discipline. Dupré was a popular and successful artist, and in this work he provides a narrative moment, asking viewers to decide who is stronger—the recalcitrant cow or the farm woman holding the rope.

About the Artist

Little has been compiled about the life of Julien Dupré. He studied art under masters Isidore Pils, Desire-Francois Laugée, and Henri Lehmann. He exhibited his first painting at the Paris Salon in 1876 and was a regular exhibitor there until his death in 1910. In 1891, an article in the Magazine of Art described him as “one of the rising artists of the French school.” He won a number of awards, including the gold medal at the Paris Fair of 1889 and the Legion of Honor in 1892. He was critically acclaimed as well as popular with art patrons. Wealthy Americans traveled to Paris to acquire his works, which became part of the great American collections of the 19th century.

Classroom Ideas

Discussion: What is going on in this painting? What stands out the most? Do you think the woman or the cow will win the tug of war? Based on In the Pasture, how do you think Julien Dupré perceived the French peasantry? Was he judgmental or sympathetic? What evidence do you have to support your answer? Do you consider this painting to be more of a portrait or a landscape? Why? Knowing what you do about Dupré’s tendency to paint realistic scenes from peasant life, what might he be interested in painting if he were alive today?

Activity: Think of a line of employment or a way of life that you believe deserves homage and create a painting or drawing about it.

Links

See two more images of Dupré works at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.
[search.famsf.org:8080/search.shtml?keywords=julien%20dupre]

Additional information and an extensive online gallery of Dupré’s work can be found at the Rehs Galleries’ JulienDupre.com site.
[www.juliendupre.com/virtexjd.htm]

The Art Renewal Center also has biographical information and images.
[www.artrenewal.org/asp/database/art.asp?aid=113&page=1]