Edgar Degas

Edgar Degas (July 19, 1834 – September 27, 1917) was a French artist famous for his work in painting, sculpting, and drawing. He is also regarded as one of the fathers of impressionism.

Early life

Throughout his life, Degas had the opportunity to live in many ways. These lives would shape him, and shape his work to reflect true life. He was born on July 19, 1834, in Paris, France to Celestine Musson de Gas, and Augustin de Gas, a banker. The de Gas family was moderately wealthy (Mannering 5). At age 11, Degas began his schooling, and started down the road of art with enrollment in the Lycee Louis Grand (Cannaday 930).

Degas began to paint seriously early in life; by eighteen he had turned a room in his home into an artist's studio, but he was expected to go to law school as were most aristocratic young men. Degas, however, had other plans and dropped out of law school at age 20. After ending his law career, he studied drawing with Louis Lamothe under whose guidance he flourished, following the style of Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres (Cannaday 930-931). Degas did, in 1855, meet Ingres (Benedek "Chronology.") and was advised by him to "draw lines"(Cannaday 931). In that same year, Degas received admission to the Ecole des Beaux-Arts (Benedek "Chronology."). The next year, Degas traveled to Italy, where he saw the paintings of Michelangelo, Raphael, and other artists of the Renaissance (Cannaday 931-932).

Artistic career

After returning from Italy, Degas copied paintings at the Louvre, but lived a mostly uneventful life, until 1865 when some of his works were accepted in the Salon. During the next five years, Degas had additional works accepted in the Salon, and gradually gained respect in the world of conventional art (Benedek "Chronology."). In 1870, Degas's life was changed by the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War. During the war, Degas served in the National Guard to defend Paris (Mannering 6), allowing little time for painting.

Following the war, Degas visited his brother, Rene, in New Orleans and produced a number of works before returning to Paris in 1873 (Mannering 6). Soon after his return, in 1874, Degas helped to organize an art show that became known as the First Impressionist Exhibition (Benedek "Chronology."). The Impressionists held seven additional shows, the last in 1886, and Degas showed his work in all but one (Mannering 6-7). Also showing works in these exhibitions was Degas's "friend and rival"(Mannering 5), Édouard Manet, who helped shaped the works of Degas(Mannering 5). At around the same time, Degas also became an amateur photographer, both for pleasure, and in order to accurately capture action for painting (Hartt 365).

Degas also had the opportunity, or perhaps curse, of living without monetary security. This occurred after the death of his father, when various debts forced him to sell his collection of art, live more modestly, and depend on his artwork for income (Cannaday 936-937). As the years passed, Degas became isolated due, in part, to his belief "that a painter could have no personal life."(Cannaday 929). As a result of this, he also never married and spent the last years of his life "aimlessly wandering the streets of Paris"(Mannering 7) before dying in 1917.

Artistic style

Degas is often identified as an Impressionist, an understandable, but erroneous belief. (Mannering 7). Degas was different from the impressionists in that he "never adopted the Impressionist color fleck"(Hartt 365). and "disapproved of their work" (Mannering 7). Degas is, however, described more accurately as an impressionist than as a member of any other movement. Impressionism was a short, varied movement during 1860s and 70s that grew out of realism and the ideas of two painters, Courbet and Corot. The movement used bright, "dazzling" colors, while still concentrating primarily on the effects of light (Hartt 357-358). The movement, which also focused on "the division of tone,"("Impressionism", 953) was started by a group of painters who met each other in Paris around 1860 ("Impressionism", 953). The impressionists exhibited their paintings eight times between 1874 and 1886 and were insultingly given their name by Louis Leroy at the time of their first exhibition. However, they were not universally disliked ,and, by the early 1880s, the general public had begun to accept their art. Unfortunately, the group was, by that time, breaking up both artistically and geographically, thus ending the Impressionist movement by the late 1880s("Impressionism" 953-955).

Degas, as at best a partial member of the impressionist group, had his own distinct style, one developed from two very different influences, Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, and Japanese prints (Dorra, 208). Degas, though famous for horses and dancers, began with conventional historical paintings such as The Young Spartans. During his early career, Degas also painted portraits of both individuals and groups, for example, The Belelli Family. However, even in these early paintings, Degas began to show the style that he would later develop by cropping paintings awkwardly, implying tensions, and portraying historical subjects in a less idealized manner (Mannering 11-13). Also during this early period, Degas painted about the tensions present between men and women (Benedek "Style."). By the late 1860s, Degas had begun to paint in his own style, one different from that of the conventional art world. During this time, he began to paint women at work, milliners, laundresses, opera performers, and dancers. Degas began to paint café life as well. He also asked other artists to paint about real life instead of traditional mythological or historical paintings (Benedek "Style."). As his subject matter changed, Degas also began to change his technique. He began to use "vibrant strokes"(Dorra 208) and "vivid colors"(Benedek "Style.").

In addition, Degas made other changes in his technique. His paintings, such as Place de la Concorde became like "snapshots,"(Hartt 365) freezing moments of time to show them accurately and completely (Hartt 365). His paintings also showed subjects from unusual angles. All of these techniques were used with Degas's self-expressed goal of "'bewitching the truth'"(Hartt, 365). Degas also used certain amusing devices in his paintings. For example he would paint the faces of friends on people in his paintings, such as in The Musicians of the Opera. He also painted literary scenes; for example, Interior, which was probably based on a scene from Therese Raquin (Mannering 22, 25).

During the later 1870s, Degas again began to change his style, in that he began to move away from his traditional medium, oil on canvas (Mannering 8-49). He also ceased to paint individual people and began instead to paint generalized people based on their social stature or form of employment(Benedek "Style."). In 1879's Portraits, At the Stock Exchange, he portrayed a group of Jewish businessmen.

These changes helped to give birth to the paintings that Degas would produce in later life. In the late years of his life, Degas began, controversially, to draw women drying themselves with towels, combing their hair, and bathing. At the same time, Degas began to use pastels rather than paint to create his works(Mannering 70). His strokes also became "long" and "slashing"(Mannering 75). The pictures created in this late period of his life bear almost no resemblance to his early paintings(Mannering 77). Ironically, it is these paintings, created late in Degas's life after the end of the Impressionist Movement that use the techniques of Impressionism and show Degas as an Impressionist in art not just business (Mannering 70-77).

However, certain features of Degas's work remained the same throughout his life. He always worked in his studio, painting either from memory or models. (Benedek "Style."). Also, Degas often repeated a subject many times(Sellier and Peugeot 39). Finally, Degas painted and drew, with few exceptions, indoor scenes.

The masterful style of Degas allowed him to produce many great works during his life time. The first of these was the Bellelli Family. It was painted in oil on canvas in 1859, and is a group portrait of Degas's Italian cousins ("Edgar Degas, 1834-1917" 4,20). Another of Degas's paintings, Absinthe, is very well known. The painting is probably making a moral point about drinking (Mannering 43), but it also exhibits a number of well-executed techniques. It is a "superb composition" and carefully uses diagonals to create depth(Hartt 365). Of course, Degas is probably most famous for painting ballet dancers in paintings such as The Rehearsal. The Rehearsal, painted with oil on canvas, effectively uses Degas's "snapshot" effect, truncating dancers here and there, blocking others with inanimate objects and positioning major elements off-center. Finally, the room's proportions, lighting, and atmosphere give the painting a "calm" feeling (Mannering 30). One of Degas's later works, After the Bath has also achieved considerable fame, and demonstrates many of the techniques used by Degas in later life. It, in typical Degas style, shows the subject from a strange angle. It also uses a pastel stroke very characteristic of the impressionists and Degas's later style. Finally the painting has texture ("Edgar Degas, 1834-1917") and a "glorious richness of colour" (Mannering 75).In his paintings, Degas would put small little details. For example, in New Orlens Cotten office, all of the people in the painting are various members of his family.

Reputation

The works of Degas were received in varied ways throughout his life, from admiration to contempt. His career as that of a promising artist in the conventional school of art, and in the several years following 1860, Degas had a number of paintings accepted in the Salon. These works received praise from Pierre Puvis de Chavannes and Castagnary, a critic, demonstrating his success in conventional art (Bowness 41-42). However, Degas soon joined the impressionist movement and rejected the Salon, just as the Salon and general public rejected the impressionists. His work was, at that time, considered "controversial" (Benedek "Style."), and Degas was, as an impressionist ridiculed by many including Louis Leroy(Benedek "Style."). However, towards the end of the impressionist movement, Degas began to gain acceptance ("Impressionism" , 953-955), and by his death, Degas was considered an important artist (Cannaday 935). Degas, though, made no important contributions to the style of the impressionists; instead, his contributions involved the organization of exhibitions. Today, Degas is thought of as "one of the founders impressionism"(Mannering 6-7), his work is highly regarded, and his paintings as well as his sculptures (discovered after his death in his studio) are on prominent display in many museums. Unfortunately, Degas's style did not have as great an impact on future art as other that of painters because he taught no pupils whose artwork gained fame, however he did teach one man who has recently become notorious, Walter Sickert (J. Paul Getty Trust).

References

Benedek, Nelly S. "Chronology of the Artist's Life." Degas. 2004. 21 May 2004 .
Tinterow, Gary. Degas. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and National Gallery of Canada, 1988.
Benedek, Nelly S. "Degas's Artistic Style." Degas. 2004. 21 March 2004 .
Bowness, Alan. ed. "Edgar Degas." The Book of Art Volume 7. New York: Grolier Incorporated, 1965:41.
Cannady, John. The Lives of Painters Volume 3. New York: W.W. Norton and Company Inc., 1969.
Dorra, Henri. Art in Perspective New York: Harcourt Brace Jocanovich, Inc.:208
"Edgar Degas, 1834-1917." The Book of Art Volume III. New York: Grolier Incorporated, 1976:4.
Hartt, Frederick. "Degas" Art Volume 2. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall Inc., 1976: 365.
"Impressionism." Praeger Encyclopedia of Art Volume 3. New York: Praeger Publishers, 1967: 952.
J. Paul Getty Trust "Walter Richard Sickert." 2003. 11 May 2004 .
Mannering, Douglas. The Life and Works of Degas. Great Britain: Parragon Book Service Limited, 1994.
Peugeot, Catherine, Sellier, Marie. A Trip to the Orsay Museum. Paris: ADAGP, 2001: 39.