Edgar Degas

{"Id":46,"Name":"Edgar Degas","Biography":"\u003Cb\u003EDEGAS, HILAIRE GERMAIN EDGARD (1834-1917),\u003C/b\u003E French painter, was born in Paris on the 19th of July 1834. Entering in 1855 the \u003Ca href=\u0022http://www.bartleby.com/65/ec/Ecoledes.html\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 class=\u0022link\u0022\u003E\u0026Eacute;cole des Beaux Arts\u003C/a\u003E, he early developed independence of artistic outlook, studying under \u003Ca href=\u0022http://www.getty.edu/vow/ULANFullDisplay?find=Degas\u0026role=\u0026nation=\u0026page=1\u0026subjectid=500115508\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 class=\u0022link\u0022\u003ELamothe\u003C/a\u003E [1822-1869]. He first exhibited in the Salon of 1865, contributing a \u003Cu\u003EWar in the Middle Ages\u003C/u\u003E, a work executed in pastel. To this medium he was ever faithful, using it for some of his best work. In 1866 his \u003Cu\u003ESteeplechase\u003C/u\u003E revealed him as a painter of the racecourse and of all the most modern aspects of life and of Parisian society, treated in an extremely original manner. He subsequently exhibited in 1867 \u003Cu\u003EFamily Portraits\u003C/u\u003E, and in 1868 a portrait of a dancer in the Ballet of \u003Cu\u003ELa Source\u003C/u\u003E. In 1869 and 1870 he restricted himself to portraits; but thenceforward he abandoned the Salons and attached himself to the Impressionists. With \u003Ca href=\u0022/asp/database/art.asp?aid=790\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 class=\u0022link\u0022\u003EManet\u003C/a\u003E [1832-1883] and \u003Ca href=\u0022/asp/database/art.asp?aid=810\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 class=\u0022link\u0022\u003EMonet\u003C/a\u003E [1840-1926] he took the lead of the new school at its first exhibition in 1874, and repeatedly contributed to these exhibitions (in 1876, 1878, 1879 and 1880). In 1868 he had shown his first study of a dancer, and in numerous pastels he proclaimed himself the painter of the ballet, representing its \u003Cem\u003Efigurantes\u003C/em\u003E in every attitude with more constant aim at truth than grace. Several of his works may be seen at the Luxembourg Gallery, to which they were bequeathed, among a collection of impressionist pictures, by \u003Ca href=\u0022/asp/database/art.asp?aid=549\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 class=\u0022link\u0022\u003EM. Caillebotte\u003C/a\u003E [1848-1894]. In 1880 Degas showed his powers of observation in a set of \u003Cu\u003EPortraits of Criminals\u003C/u\u003E, and he attempted modelling in a \u003Cu\u003EDancer\u003C/u\u003E, in wax. He afterwards returned to his studies of the sporting world, exhibiting in December 1884 at the Petit Gallery two views of \u003Cu\u003ERaces\u003C/u\u003E which had a great success, proving the increasing vogue of the artist among collectors. He is ranked with Manet as the leader of the impressionist school. At the eighth Impressionist Exhibition, in 1886, Degas continued his realistic studies of modern life, showing drawings of the nude, of workwomen, and of jockeys. Besides his pastels and his paintings of genre and portraits among these, several likenesses of Manet, Degas also handled his favorite subjects in etching and in aquatint; and executed several lithographs of singers at caf\u0026eacute;-concerts, of Balletgirls, and indeed of every possible subject of night-life and incidents behind the scenes. His work is to be seen not only at the Luxembourg but in many of the great private collections in Paris, in England and America. In the Centenary Exhibition of 1900 he exhibited \u003Cu\u003EThe Interior of a Cotton-Brokers Office at New Orleans\u003C/u\u003E (belonging to the Museum at Pau) and \u003Cu\u003EThe Rehearsal\u003C/u\u003E.\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003ESee also G. Moore, \u0022Degas, the Painter of Modern Life,\u0022 \u003Cu\u003EMagazine of Art\u003C/u\u003E (1890); J. K. Huysmans, \u003Cu\u003ECertains\u003C/u\u003E (Paris, 1889); G. Geifroy, \u003Cu\u003ELa Vie Artistique\u003C/u\u003E (3 Series, Paris, 1894).\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Cu\u003ESource:\u003C/u\u003E\u003C/strong\u003E Entry on the artist in the \u003Ca href=\u0022http://13.1911encyclopedia.org/D/DE/DEGAS.htm\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003E1911 Edition Encyclopedia\u003C/a\u003E.\u003Cp\u003E","Awards":null,"HasAlbums":true,"HasPortraits":true,"HasRelationships":true,"HasArticles":false,"HasDepictedPlaces":true,"HasLetters":false,"HasLibraryItems":true,"HasProducts":true,"HasSignatures":true,"HasVideos":false,"HasMapLocations":true,"TotalArtworks":116}