Research on Edgar Degas

Edgar Degas and his life

Early life:

Degas was born on July 19th 1834 in Paris.His father Auguste De Gas was a banker.Degas studied drawing at Parisian Lycee, Louis Le Grand. He left Lycee in 1853 as he registered as a copyist and also a lawyer. He eventually told his father that he could not go on with law and was allowed to continue his vocation as an artist.

Early Influences:

Degas entered Ecole Des Beaux - Arts in April 1855. He chose Louis La Monthe as his teacher. Lamonthe had a passion for drawing and admired italian masters from the 15th and 16th centuries. Degas left for Naples in 1856 to visit relatives and undertake tours. He has encounters with Gustave Moreau in early 1858 in Rome. The french artists had no contact with the Italian artists. Degas developed his own medium called "essence", he used turpentine as a thinner. The results was dryness and delicacy of an eggshell.

Return To Paris:

Degas returned to Paris in 1859. He focused on work by Eugene Delacroix and his coloristic values. He left his fathers appartment and he moved to a studio on Rue De laval in the ninth arrondisemnet where he remained for his entire life.

First Success:

During the 1860s Degas remained unknown to the public. He changes alliances, replacing Moreau with James Tissot and Edourd Manet. He became the leading figure of the Impressionist artists along with Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley, Claude Monet and Paul Cezanne. In 1872 Degas became more confident with his own talents and embraced new influences from Ingres drawings and also Delacroixs colors.

Preferred Genres:

Degas preferred  to do more portraits than any other genres. Some other subjects he did though was landscapes and contemporary life. Until he returned to Italy he did alot of family portraits and self portraits.

Realism:

Naturalism is a progressive form of realism. Degas co organized independent exhibitions of the impressionists. Degas showed great importance to picture frames especially for his own work. The colors and the profiles  for the frames were designed by himself. The term "Impressionists" arised from Claude Monets painting Impression Sunrise. Degas emphasis on drawing and urban subject matters distinguished his works from Monets.

Innovations:

Degas fascination with technical inventions was evident in his printmaking, his use of traditional techniques like pastel and distemper was well known.  Both of these are fast drying allowing him to make quick changes to his work. He found the techniques worked well for depicting performing arts. Using the stump of his fingers created tonal areas, powdery pigments of pastel sticks with brush and water created fluid passages of color.

Artistic Maturity:

At the end of the 1880s Degas exhibited only in a few public places his attention was turned to art journals in Paris. He influenced artists Paul Gaughin, Georges Seurat, Henri - Toulouse Lautrec, Mary Cassat and sculptor Albert Bartholome. From 1886 onwards he stopped keeping notebooks. 

In 1890 his work resembled an aging man:

• Wit and humor replaced serious tone.
• Color was more intense.
• Line increased with vigor and expressive power.
• Space theatrical or ambiguous.

In 1912 he left his studio because of demolition and that followed by him stopping to work.

Portrait of Edgar Degas