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_Edgar Degas _
By: Brian Nash
Edgar Degas was a French artist, some people would refer to him as the expert
of drawing the human figure in motion. He was known as an Impressionists, and
was different from all the other artist of his type. Edgar Degas was a person
who, at certain times, brashly defied propriety and common social practice.
Although he could be the nicest person, at times he would go into rages during
social gatherings, becoming hostile with the people who disagreed with his
ways and opinions. Edgar Degas was born on July 19, 1834, at Saint-Georges in
Paris. His father was a French banker, and his mother was an American from New
Orleans. While Degas was growing up his idol was the painter. He began his
artistic studies with Louis Lamothes, a pupil of Ingres. After studying there
he moved on and started classes at the Ecole des Beaux Arts. In 1854, he left
and went to Italy. For 5 years he stayed there and studied Italian art, mainly
works. Edgar Degas was known as an Impressionist. The Impressionist were
artist who exhibited their works of art in independent shows from 1874 to
1886. It was the common desire to make an open forum for artist to show their
work that united the group. The word "Impressionist" was created by the critic
Louis Leroy after seeing paintings in the first Impressionists exhibition in
April of 1874. The name that Leroy gave his article in the French periodical
was Charivari "Exhibition of the Impressionists" and sarcastically protected
the new style of painting that ignored details, bared brushstrokes, and put
unblended colors beside each other. Just like most of the French public, Leroy
did not take into consideration the works by Claude Monet, Berthe Morisot,
Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Edgar as art that deserved serious attention. In
1859 he returned to Paris. There he painted portraits of family and friends
and many historical subjects, where he used both classical and romantic
styles. In the late 1860s he switched to contemporary themes, painting both
theatrical scenes and portraits with big emphasis on social and intellectual
implications of props and setting. Around 1868 Degas began to get recognized
as an artist. During the early 1870s, the female became Degass favorite
theme. In his studio he sketched from a live model and put poses together in
groupings that illustrated rehearsal and performance scenes. In 1872 he
visited some of his relatives in Louisiana, he painted The Cotton Exchange at
New Orleans, which is his only picture that was aquired by a museum in his
lifetime. Pastels became Edgars preferred type of art after 1880. By using
sharper colors he gave more attention to surface patterning, depicting
milliners, and laundresses. Degas depended on memory and earlier drawings for
the poses. Even though he became guarded and withdrawn late in life, Edgar
made strong friendships with literary people. He exhibited a sculpture in
1881, Little Dancer, and after that his eyesight failed. From there on he
turned to sculpture, and modeling figures in wax over metal armatures. The
sculptures he made stayed in his studio in disrepair and after his death were
cast in bronze.
Word Count: 525
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