Interview

What events in your early life made you get interested in the arts?

My dad worked very hard to make sure I got a good education in the arts. I went to an all-boys school, where I was the only girl. I was kicked out of most other schools because I proved to be disruptive and rebellious, which eventually led to me to become a woman that often strayed away from careers or hobbies that women often had. Almost every art school at the time did not enroll women either, so my dad taught me how to paint and sculpt by himself. H strongly believed that women were not involved in society enough, and he was a member of a religious sect that included both men and women equally.
Every one of my other, younger siblings was also an artist. My brother and my two sisters sculpted and painted animals as well. I got my love of drawing animals from my mother, whom taught me how to read by asking me to draw an animal whose name started with each letter of the alphabet, and from a small bark that my dad owned that contained a lot of livestock that I drew from. Unfortunately, my mom died when I was only seven, one year after we moved to France. My rebellious attitude and my artistic family gave me lots of influence on my work and habits later on.

What role did mentors play in helping you develop the interests and talents you have as an artist?

I was taught a lot by my own father, as any apprenticeships I tried to make ended up failing, and most schools kicked me out. My father believed very strongly that all of his children should think independently, so the fact that I couldn’t get a good education was unacceptable. That’s why he took me in. Other than that, there weren’t many people that were really ‘mentors’ to me. My papa and my mama were the only people that were ever willing to give me education, along with the fact that most colleges and art schools didn’t even accept women in the first place.
It was also very hard for me to get accepted into an art college, because almost every art college during my time only accepted men. I was lucky to learn how to even sculpt, because that was also considered men’s work. Thankfully, I was considered a very good artist, especially when most people thought women couldn’t make art well, and I was particularly popular in Paris Salons that I attended. If my father Raimond weren’t around to teach me so much, I would’ve never achieved the things I did.

What was the world of art like in your particular art field when you entered it?

During the Industrial Revolution, the life of artwork, especially painting, was booming. The sudden increase in the amount of supplies available due to the fast production of painting supplies in factories made the availability of oils and other paints skyrocket. People also had the time and money to buy works of art. The subject matter of art shifted slowly to the new middle class, depicting the daily lives of peasants and factory workers.
Some people really disliked the industrial revolution, and created artwork that downgraded machines and the sudden boom in technology, these people were called impressionists. They wanted to shock the public, and drew strange, very strange things like giraffes on fire and the like. Other people embraced the industrial revolution, and drew city scenes with smoke billowing out of factories. The opinions toward religions and mythological artwork introduced several new modern art forms, such as romanticism, which showcased individuality.



How did the major cultural, economic and political situations of the time impact your work?

Most people during my lifetime had more money and spare time to focus on art. Although most paintings during the industrial revolution depicted machinery or workers, my paintings and castings of animals and countryside’s still did well because it was a different, but natural subject. All of the salons in the area encouraged avant-garde thinking, and I was rather popular there because I strayed so far from what women were supposed to act like.
During the industrial revolution, most people’s ideal painting was very clean and photorealistic. Paintings that were done with, say, a palette knife wouldn’t be as popular because they may be realistic but the surface of the painting was not smooth. Salons, however, accepted work that was created with different methods. My work was realistic, but it didn’t have a clean, detailed finish to it. In salons, everything was accepted and you could talk about virtually anything, and I enjoyed going there often, and entering in their contests.

What were your major accomplishments and the methods you used in your art?

I was very fortunate to have the intellectual insights to realize I was not going to be a rebel in the world of art. I was already a rebel by the very fact that I was a woman, so my art didn’t have to be revolutionary; I left that up to the impressionists (Monet and his ‘followers’) who didn’t like my realism. I loved animals and focused on them as a subject matter, them sitting in a natural world, all depicted naturally in a realistic way. Learning how to paint a cow to look like a cow, a pasture to look like a pasture was a great accomplishment that I am proud of.
Learning how to paint realistically, using layers of color to build up tone, drawing nature accurately, making bronze casts, recreating famous paintings and doing masculine things were the tools used to rebel against men who said that women couldn’t do those kinds of things.

What were key opportunities that you had that led to turning points in your life and art?

I once received a commission from the government to paint a painting of several people plowing a field. I was commissioned because an 8-piece gallery of mine got first prize at a salon. That really boosted my popularity! I even got to visit Queen Victoria because of it, and we both became good friends. Besides that gold metal, I got another bronze metal in another competition.
My entire family was very well known, because my dad was eccentric and my younger siblings all had the same hobby. I couldn’t make molds of my sculptures on my own, my younger brothers made the molds for me so that I could make bronze castings of them. My family was also used as an example in Charles Darwin’s brother’s report on Hereditary Genius. Unfortunately, my mother was not around to see all of this.



What personal choices did you make to become successful?

I decided that my love of animals was going to be my main subjects. However, it was hard to study them because women were often not allowed in ranches or farms or slaughterhouses, which is where my permit to wear men’s clothes comes in. I would wear trousers when I was working with animals, and I also went to slaughterhouses and dissected animals to view their internal structure. However, I limited my style of dress only to work. I still wore dresses in public. In fact, one time I was arrested because I was thought to be a man dressing as a woman.
I also wanted to be an example for other female artists around the world. I wanted to stray far from what women usually acted like- I wore men’s clothing, I smoked in public, and I did jobs that were often considered women’s work. Oddly enough, most people appreciated me for that rather than scoffed at me for it. Monet did not like my paintings however, and said that they were out and out ‘bad’ paintings. On the other hand, a woman in America named Elizabeth Jane Gardner followed my example and got the permission of the police to wear men’s clothing.

What hardships or roadblocks did you have to overcome in order to be an artist?

Being a woman was my biggest problem. Women were very restricted when I was an artist. Women were not even allowed to attend classes that drew models. This made it impossible for me to learn anything from schools, colleges; you name it. I made a vow that I would try and break some of those bonds that women were under.
Another big hardship was my style of dress. As you could think, it’s very hard to navigate through a slaughterhouse in a billowing dress, men’s wear was much more compact and functional. It was hard to crouch and examine animals from unusual angles, or run around in fields in a billowing skirt, however I kept my other style of dress only to work. If I were in the city, I would still wear dresses. I had to overcome the feminine stereotype if I ever wanted to learn anything from cows or other animals I wanted to draw.

What kind of limitations did you run into both as an artist and a person?

Being a woman in Europe during the 1800s, there were very limited career choices that you could choose from. Even in the fields of art and music, where by its very nature is more liberal and open than say, economics or politics, its choices regarding women was limited to being a singer, ballet dancer, or an artist model. But to be a painter is to rise above the ‘expected’ place for a woman.
I never got an official education, however my work is good enough that it looks as if I did. Despite the fact that I was not a man, if you didn’t know any better you’d think someone who was made it. But on a personal level, having a wonderful family background as I did growing up, combined with my rebellious but kind nature, how well I turned out to be was regarded as a challenge among men.



What kind of personal stories (anecdotes) best illustrate how you became successful in the arts?

Over all, I believe that my strong feminism in some ways contributed to my success, while in other ways it didn’t. I think that if it weren’t for the fact that I was out-of-the-ordinary, I wouldn’t be as popular. However, I also think that I was simply a good painter and sculptor, nothing else. I don’t think I would still be recognized if I made BAD artwork, regardless of what gender I was.
I also thank my family so much for everything they did for me! If it weren’t for my avant-garde father, I would likely just be a normal, abiding-by-the-expectations woman, and never amount to being the woman I am today. If it weren’t for him, I probably wouldn’t have learned how to make art in the first place.
Also, all of the salons around France also did a lot to my success. Salons seem like the only place were you weren’t judged simply by the way you thought. If I never joined any conversations in there, My pieces would likely never get publicity, and I wouldn’t earn any metals or get a commission from the government.
All in all, despite the ridiculous public of the 1800s, I believe that my friends and family, and my dear cows helped immensely in my work.






















These are the sources I used in the interview:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_Bonheur

http://www.huntfor.com/absoluteig/bonheur.htm

http://www.arthistoryarchive.com/arthistory/realism/Rosa-Bonheur.html

http://bronze-gallery.com/sculptors/artist.cfm?sculptorID=7

http://arthistory.about.com/cs/namesbb/p/bonheur.htm

http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Rosa_Bonheur

http://industrialrevolution.sea.ca/impact.html

http://www.humanitiesweb.org/human.php?s=g&p=a&a=i&ID=92

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1026/is_4_159/ai_73410717/

http://www.passionforpaint.com/RosaBonheur.html

sources cited

"persian leopards." Web. 8 Apr 2010. .

"deer on a mountain." Web. 8 Apr 2010. .

"Pallete Painting." Web. 8 Apr 2010. .

"Calves and a Fence." Web. 8 Apr 2010. .

"Bronze Cow Cast." Web. 8 Apr 2010. .

"The Horse Fair." Web. 8 Apr 2010. .

"Lion Cast." Web. 8 Apr 2010. .

"Sheep." Web. 8 Apr 2010. .

"Awesome Tiger." Web. 8 Apr 2010. .

"resting lion." Web. 8 Apr 2010. .

10 artifacts

Persian leopards! They were fun to paint.

Some deer on a mountain.

Not everyday do you see a painting on a palette. :D

Another painting, some cute cows.

One of my sculpts.

One of my best works, The Horse Fair.

One of my sculptures! I liked making them as much as I liked making paintings, and my brothers often made casts of them.

I think sheep are cute.

Other than the watermark, I quite like how this one turned out.

Other than cows and horses, I also enjoyed painting VERY wild life...