Portrait d'homme

1867

The book “Méthode et entretiens d’atelier”

In 1867 Couture publishes in Paris a book of his own ideas and working methods, “Méthode et entretiens d’atelier” (“Method and Workshop Interviews”), as a challenge to the academic establishment. His answer to a publisher who asked for an autobiography is also remembered: biography is the exaltation of personality, and personality is the scourge of our time.

1869

Moves to Villiers-le-Bel

In 1869 Couture moves to Villiers-le-Bel. According to the critic Albert Wolff, he lives there in a seclusion which, thanks to the complete indifference of his contemporaries, turns him into a man buried alive.

January 1870

Demand for his works in the United States

Forgotten at home, Couture finds demand for his works in the United States, which keeps him from leaving the stage altogether. In January 1870 he writes that he works hard, that art lovers come to him as to Paris, and that he, who reveres art alone, grows rich with their help, like a colonial merchant.

1870s

An autobiographical book with his grandson

Late in life Couture works with his grandson on an autobiographical book, “Thomas Couture, His Life, His Work, His Character, His Ideas, His Method”.