The art of Hilaire Germain Edgar Degas, b. Paris,
July 19, 1834, d. Sept. 26, 1917, reflects a concern for the psychology of movement and expression,
the harmony of line and continuity of contour. These characteristics set Degas apart from the other
impressionist painters, although he took part in all but one of
the 8 impressionist exhibitions between 1874 and 1886.
Degas was the son of a wealthy banker, and his
aristocratic family background instilled into his early art a haughty yet sensitive quality of
detachment. As he grew up, his idol was the painter Jean Auguste Ingres, whose example pointed him
in the direction of a classical draftsmanship, stressing balance and clarity of outline. After
beginning his artistic studies with Louis Lamothes, a pupil of Ingres, he started classes at the
École des Beaux Arts but left in 1854 and went to Italy. He stayed there for 5 years, studying
Italian art, especially Renaissance works.
Returning to Paris in 1859, he painted portraits of
his family and friends and a number of historical subjects, in which he combined classical and
romantic styles. In Paris, Degas came to know Edouard Manet, and
in the late 1860s he turned to contemporary themes, painting both theatrical scenes and portraits
with a strong emphasis on the social and intellectual implications of props and setting.
In the early 1870s the female ballet dancer became his
favorite theme. He sketched from a live model in his studio and combined poses into groupings that
depicted rehearsal and performance scenes in which dancers on stage, entering the stage, and resting
or waiting to perform are shown simultaneously and in counterpoint, often from an oblique angle of
vision. On a visit in 1872 to Louisiana, where he had relatives in the cotton business, he painted
The Cotton Exchange at New Orleans (finished 1873; Musée Municipal, Pau, France), his only
picture to be acquired by a museum in his lifetime. Other subjects from this period include the
racetrack, the beach, and cafe interiors.
After 1880, PASTEL became Degas's preferred medium.
He used sharper colors and gave greater attention to surface patterning, depicting milliners,
laundresses, and groups of dancers against backgrounds now only sketchily indicated. For the poses,
he depended more and more on memory or earlier drawings. Although he became guarded and withdrawn
late in life, Degas retained strong friendships with literary people. In 1881 he exhibited a sculpture,
Little Dancer (a bronze casting of which is in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston), and as his eyesight
failed thereafter he turned increasingly to sculpture, modeling figures and horses in wax over metal
armatures. These sculptures remained in his studio in disrepair and were cast in bronze only after
his death.
Mark Roskill
Source: The New Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia, Release #8, ©1996.
Bibliography: Boggs, J. S., Portraits by Degas (1962); Jean Bouret, Degas: His Life and
Work, trans. by Daphne Woodward (1965); Jan Dunlop, Degas (1979); François Fosca, Degas:
Biographical and Critical Studies, trans. by James Emmons (1954); R. Gordon, and A. Forge, Degas
(1988); J. and M. Guillard, Edgar Degas: Pastels (1989); Daniel Halevy, My Friend Degas, trans.
by Mina Curtiss (1964); R. Kendall, ed., Degas by Himself (1988); E. Lipton, Looking into Degas:
Uneasy Images of Women and Modern Life (1986); C.W. Millard, The Sculpture of Degas (1977);
Theodore Reff, Degas: The Artist's Mind (1976, repr. 1987); J. Rewald, Degas Sculpture (1951,
repr. 1989); Denys Sutton, Edgar Degas: Life and Work (1986); Antoine Terrasse, Degas (1974).
Images: "Le tub" (Giraudon/Art Resource, NY);
"Classe danse (The Dancing class)" (Musée d'Orsay, Paris).
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