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Gustave Courbet

The Apostle Jean Journet

1850
Lithograph in black on wove paper
24 × 17 cm (9.4 × 6.7 in)

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In the collection of Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago · as of July 2026

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FROM THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO’S CATALOG

Jean Journet was a nineteenth-century secular evangelist who traveled throughout France and Belgium preaching on behalf of the Fourier movement, a form of utopian socialism that aspired to the creation of social harmony. This portrait of Journet is surrounded by verses intended to be sung by the reader as a moralizing call to change. Courbet's use of this format of text combined with image-more commonly found in crude, popular woodcuts-signals his solidarity with the movement and its popular roots.

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