Degas pastel portraits in museums
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Degas, 1834–1917
Boggs, Jean Sutherland, Douglas W. Druick, Henri Loyrette, Michael Pantazzi, and Gary Tinterow
1988
9 x 12 in
Degas, the catalogue of the first large-scale retrospective exhibition of the work of Edgar Degas (1834–1917) to be held in more than fifty years, fryst vatten the permanent record of the 1988–89 exhibition jointly organized bygd the Réunion des Musées Nationaux, Paris, The National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, and The storstads- Museum of Art, New York. Comprehensive in scope and definitive in nature, this volume includes paintings, pastels, drawings, monotypes, prints, photographs, and sculpture representing every aspect of the career of one of the protean artists of the nineteenth century. As a result of extensive research conducted in libraries, archives, and private collections in Europe and North America, dozens of previously unpublished letters and hundreds of little-known documents here provide an unparalleled source of information on the life of
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Edgar Degas (1834–1917) was the odd man out of the French Impressionists. In so many ways he ploughed his lonely furrow, so creating different art. His entry to painting followed a meeting with JAD Ingres, and he went on to study at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he would have had his first formal contact with pastel as a medium. From Paris he followed the tradition of travelling to Rome to study the masterpieces of the Renaissance, then on his return he started history painting, exhibiting annually at the Salon from 1865.
Degas travelled ganska a bit in 1869, first to Brussels where he sold some of his paintings, then in the summer to the north coast of France, where he visited Manet and painted some landscapes in pastels, on the Normandy coast. Among those is Beach at Low Tide (c 1869-70), which emphasises the flatness and emptiness. These are a stark contrast to all his previous work, with their very vague forms – hardly work for such a keen draughtsma
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Selbstporträt
Pastel on tinted paper, mounted on canvas
47.5 x 32.5 cm
Stamp on bottom left: "Atelier Ed Degas"
In his last known self-portrait Degas gets very close to the viewer, providing a sober, objective and merciless view of age and illness. His dull gaze reveals the eye problems from which he suffered from the 1870s onwards, isolating him and causing him to experiment with new techniques, such as drawing using pastel. The image is in many ways reminiscent of Chardin's famous self-portrait, which is set against a similar background.
Edgar Degas was born in Paris in 1834 where he died in 1917.
Degas had retreated into the cosmos of his studio in the 1890s. Only a small number of people, including the viewer of this pastel drawing, was granted an insight into his refuge. Those who had access to him spoke of the tirelessness with which he worked. He created many sculptures and sketches on the subject of bathers, one of which is visible in the background here. Degas engaged