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University: Lecturer: Course: Date: Edgar Degas Outline of contents Content Page Abstract 2 Introduction 2 Life and works 2 Social depiction 3 Old age 4 Works cited 6 Abstract This paper trails the lifetime achievements of Edgar Degas, one of the most gifted artists to ever live in France. It mainly focuses on the social environment which influenced his paintings and drawings, and which became clearly depicted in them. It also portrays the artist as a unique stand-alone in his era, for his many works clearly broke away from the norm. Ultimately, it explains why Edgar came to be so revered in the art world, being mentioned in the same breath as Renoir, Picasso and Titian. Introduction Edgar Degas was born in July, 1834, in France.
He lived on to become one of the most renowned artists in France. He was talented in drawing and painting, sculpture and print making. During his lifetime, the art of impressionism was gaining popularity, and Edgar himself was widely referred to as one of the founders. Personally, Edgar rejected this title, preferring instead to be called a realist. He was especially gifted in drawing and painting pictures of humans in motion. Most of his artwork actually depicted ballerinas or racehorses (Nicholas, 2002).
Life and works Edgar painted for a very long time- right up to his death at 83 years. Having started the art at 23 years, it is remarkable that for 60 years, his artwork continued to evolve, getting better and better, and retaining its creative edge. In terms of creativity alone, Edgar was comparable only to Titian and Picasso. He didnt paint for beauty, but rather he infused exotic styles and emotions into all his work to come up with an immortal piece. Actually, he used to say that one of the reasons for his staying single was so that he wouldnt ever feel driven to paint simply for beauty (Mezzo, N.
D. ). Edgar's work, spanning the 60 years that he invested in it, seemed to evolve with different time epochs. For example, in 1859, when he returned to Paris after a long period, he drew and painted many of his friends and relatives. He also painted a number of historical figures.
In these paintings, there was a notable romantic and classic style. However, he soon turned to the performing theatres, and in the late 1860 s, most of his work depicted the intellectual and cultural implications of theatrical props and setups. In 1870 s his main theme changed once again. This time he featured more of ballerina dancers. His paintings of ballet scenes show the dancers in all stages of preparation, and the final performance on stage. He later changed once again to depict panoramas of beaches, cafe interiors and racetracks (Nicholas, 2002).
Social depiction The work of Edgar Degas portrays a lot of the social setup in France during his life time. Remarkably, it does not depict the political turmoil that France was in during his time. Apparently, Edgar, born of an aristocratic family, was not really being affected by the political environment around him. Or maybe he just didnt care. Whatever the reason, politics were clearly left out of his artwork. This fact made him stand out from the other artists during his time, who majored in depicting political controversies (Metropolitan, N.
D. ). It was one of the reasons why he didnt like being grouped in with the rest of the artists as an impressionist. In his artwork, Edgar clearly portrayed the industrial transformation going on in France. For example, several of his pieces show laundresses. This is a clear indication of the fact that during his lifetime, France was slowly getting into the service sector, and more women were getting into these kinds of jobs. Several other pieces also showed the development of the fashion industry within France.
This could be seen in the pieces showing milliners. In all these depictions, there was a clear, un disputable divide between the middle class and the lower class citizens (Metropolitan, N. D. ). Edgar also produced a lot of pieces featuring nudes. An extension of this artwork was his drawings and paintings of women bathing. Placed in the cultural context, this particular category of his artwork is hard to explain in terms of motivations (Metropolitan, N.
D. ). There is overall agreement, though, that Edgar's paintings of the human form were classic. He probably was just engaging himself in what occurred naturally to himself as a talent. A common reason fronted for the paintings in these controversial categories was that France was awakening to the necessities of personal hygiene, and bathing was one major way through which this could be maintained. Otherwise, Edgar's paintings of the human form were unique in the fact that they did not depict eroticism. Instead, he toned down the gender differences in the paintings by drawing both men and women as having lean and tall bodies (Mezzo, N.
D. ). Old age Edgar's works done after 1880 show that his eyesight was failing. The drawings done then were sharper in the foreground, having been done using pastel. The main characters would be clearly depicted against a blurred background. Human forms were drawn now more from his memories, as his real-time portraits of models reduced. Edgar himself claimed that with his failing strength, he was finding it easier and faster to work with pastels, as the work could be redone over and over again without loss in quality (Mezzo, N.
D. ). But as his eyesight steadily declined, he turned more and more towards sculptures. Thus his later works were more of the wax figures cast in metal armatures (Nicholas, 2002). A unique thing happened when Edgar's eyesight declined. His paintings, now drawn more from memory than from observations, seemed to be getting more and more masterful. Instead of drawing many characters within one piece, Edgar concentrated on only a few forms in the foreground.
Some artists like Renoir later said that this transformation was, if anything, an improvement on Edgar's work. It was ironical that by some peoples standards, Edgar actually produced his best work when he got blind. Edgar himself said that going blind freed him from the tyrannies of nature, and instead gave him the scope to explore his mind (Mezzo, N. D. ). And now, almost a century later, Edgar Degas is still revered as one of the best artists to grace France. Works Cited Metropolitan Museum of Art (N.
D. ) Edgar Degas: Social and historical context Retrieved from web accessed on 19 th March, 2009 Mezzo-Mondo (N. D. ) Edgar Degas Retrieved from web accessed on 19 th March, 2009 Nicholas Pics (2002) Degas, (Hilaire-Germain-) Edgar Retrieved from web accessed on 19 th March, 2009
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