1800-99 229 • egas D egas D vulgar. dgar dgar E E The Bathtub Bathtub The The Impressionists The of the eight in seven Degas exhibited keen to but was exhibitions, impressionist He impressionism. his styledistance from the plein air technique openly criticized the government “If I were declaring: a special brigade of have I would on artistsgendarmerie keep an eye to ….” nature landscapes from who paint “TheDreyfus in embroiled became also He in divided France that a debate Affair,” Dreyfus, Alfred which a Jewish soldier, Degas’s of treason. falsely accused was revealed guilty was Dreyfus that insistence of his his anti-Semitism, and he lost many friends as a result. impressionist ABOVE: Some found the woman’s ABOVE:woman’s the found Some vulnerability in in vulnerability 1880–1881), (c. still divided Little Dancer Aged Fourteen Throughout his career, Degas was supported by his greatest greatest his by supported was Degas career, his Throughout Somewhat misogynous, Degas never married, considering patron, gallery owner understood Paul or liked Degas’s Durand-Ruel. work loose, and at angles unusual of Notcompositions their first, with paintings, but by everyone 1880 his rapid brushstrokes, were being masterpiece sculpture, warmly a wax and received. fabric model Yet (later cast his in bronze) opinion, provoking adoration, outrage, and disgust. In and Degas 1905 in and 1886 York, New in shown were works Degas’s in London. paintings exhibited of the impressionists many women a poor second to many his of art.his Yet most famous laundresses as such women, working and dancers depict works by plagued was he life his of end the Toward seamstresses. and failing eyesight, but somehow retained an ability to sketch, LH and sculpt. paint, Noting his talent, Degas’s wealthy parents allowed him to EDGAR DEGAS Hilaire-Germain-Edgar de Gas, July 19, 1834 (Paris, France); died Born: Hilaire-Germain-Edgar France); July 19, 1834 (Paris, Gas, de France). 27, 1917 (Paris, September Artistic use of line; vivid- style: and sculptor; Impressionist painter expressive bathing. and women dancers, depictions pastels; of horse racing, colored One of the greatest world’s draftsmen, Edgar Degas has been credited as the link between classical and modernist art. He mastered painting, drawing, sculpture, and photography— taking 1895 onward. in earnest from up the latter have a studio at home, and by determined the age to of twenty become he was an influenced by artist. the work His of Jean-Auguste-Dominique earlyhis him gave who Ingres met he 1855 in Delacroix; IngresEugène and pieces were in Degasthe École enrolled the lines.” “follow to famous advice des Beaux-Arts in Paris and spent three years studying in Italy. the of one was and 1865, in Salon Paris the at exhibited first He Société Anonyme des Artistes who exhibited together from 1874 The onward. first show included work by Degas, Claude Monet, Berthe Morisot, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and was “Exhibition of later the labeled Impressionists” pejoratively the by critic Louis Leroy because the artists’ style of insufficient and use of unblended colors. brushstrokes, obvious detail, egas D dgar • E Paris, France) Paris, France) Paris, U.S.) Massachusetts, Harvard University, France) Paris, England) Collection, London, (Tate France) Paris, England) Liverpool, Scotland) Gallery and Museum, Glasgow, (National Gallery, London, England) London, Gallery, (National 1866 (Musée d’Orsay, Horses 1866 (Musée d’Orsay, Race Star 1871 (MuséeThe d’Orsay, Art Museum, Rehearsal 1873–1878 (Fogg The 1875 (Musée d’Orsay, Absinthe Drinker The 1880–1881 c. Fourteen Little Dancer Aged Bathtub 1886 (MuséeThe d’Orsay, 1890 (Walker c. Ironing Art Gallery, Woman Art 1898 (Kelvingrove Dancers on a Bench c. 1860 Spartans c. Exercising Young Masterworks ABOVE: Degas’s self-portrait was painted self-portrait painted ABOVE: was Degas’s shows Degas’s RIGHT: Degas’s Dancers on a Bench shows 228 early on in his career, in 1862. early on in his career, mastery in depicting movement.

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