Street in Damvillers 1882

Jules Bastien-Lepage’s painting, Street in Damvillers, would have been made with oil paint, applied to a linen canvas stretched over a wooden frame. The visible brushwork and realistic depiction demonstrate the artist's skills in painting. Bastien-Lepage chose not to hide the fact that it is a painting made of strokes. The social context of this painting is in the tradition of French landscape painting, yet Bastien-Lepage focused on a different reality than the artists of the Barbizon school. He did not idealize the French countryside. He showed the houses and buildings that sheltered ordinary people. It is a kind of social realism made in the context of fine art. Paying attention to the materials, making, and social context helps to fully understand and appreciate the artwork's meaning, challenging traditional distinctions between fine art and craft.