Looking Hard at Edgar Degas 1834-1917
‘Looking Hard at Edgar Degas 1834-1917’ is an examination of the approach of this most private of artists, to his subject, through his paintings.
Degas is far more than a painter of ballet dancers or merely an ‘impressionist’. In fact his concentration on the figure places him firmly in the classical tradition. The ultimate voyeur, he seems to lie in wait for his subjects, catching them unawares in their private worlds. These apparently natural or casual images are hard won, and as he himself said ‘No art was ever less spontaneous than mine’. |