Ballet of Paris Opera by E. Degas in the Light of Its Popularisation as Art and Interpretation of the Artist’s Creative Method

The article is dedicated to the interpretation of the dance theme in the work of famous French artist E. Degas (1834-1917) in connection with the development of the Paris Opera’s ballet theatre. The main objective of the study is to determine the main trends in the development of the French artistic culture of the late 19th century; in addition, it aims to study the time of E. Degas’s life and work, analyse his works on ballet themes, understand the artist’s method under the direct influence of the artistic system of the era, and the French classical dance; to identify the features of the interpretation of the ballet theme by E. Degas within the impressionistic trend opposing academicism and formulate its historical significance. His work introduces new forms of dialogue and communication into the sphere of the interaction of related arts. The author demonstrates that the artist’s works, despite the general theme, solve various creative tasks in the sphere of the impressionist image method. Also, they form the artistic consciousness that requires creativity necessary to develop search thinking in the image of the backstage life of dancers. Having studied works in museum collections, the author formulates the main dynamic characteristics of the created artistic images of the ballet and their unique identity. Determined that his drawings contain mathematics and pictorial ease at an equal rate. Muted, but expressive details develop the atmosphere of his paintings, where everything is rather simple, people are reserved, and their feelings are hidden from the eyes of others

Degas escultor, Degas pintor: Confissões de vida e arte

Em um artigo publicado em 11 de agosto de 1931 no jornal Le Temps[Fig. 3], o jornalista e crítico de arte François Thiébault-Sisson(1856-1944) esforçava-se para reproduzir uma conversação que mantivera com Edgar Degas (1834-1917) trinta e quatro anos antes. Recordava o ano de1897 e a ocasião em que Degas refugiara-seem Mont-Dore, localidade famosa pelas águas termais de poderes curativos, onde o artista fazia um tratamento para recuperar-se de problemas decorrentes de sua bronquite, cada vez mais atormentado com a progressiva deterioração de sua visão2. Os dois encontraram-se ali perto, em Clermont-Ferrand, para onde Degas havia se dirigido em busca de alguma distração depois de aproximadamente uma semana de isolamento na estação termal

Peculiarities of E. Dega's creative method in the interpretation of the theme "Paris opera ballet"

Статья посвящена осмыслению тематики танца в творчестве известного французского художника Э. Дега (1834–1917) на фоне развития самого балетного театра Парижской оперы, которое вносит новые формы диалога и общения в сферу взаимодействия смежных видов искусств. Показано, что произведения художника, несмотря на общую тему, решают различные творческие задачи, лежащие в сфере импрессионистического метода изображения. Кроме того, формируют художническое сознание, требующее креативности, развивающее поисковое мышление в изображении закулисной жизни танцовщиц. На основе проведенного исследования ряда произведений, находящихся в музейных коллекциях, автором формулируются основные динамические характеристики созданных художественных образов балета и их неповторимое своеобразие

Actriz, moral y rebeldía en la cultura del siglo XIX

RESUMEN: Este artículo tiene tres intenciones. En primer lugar, ofrecer algunas especulaciones sobre las relaciones entre arte, sociedad e historia. En segundo lugar, ver el valor del teatro como fuente de la historia social, y finalmente, tantear las posibilidades de analizar la situación social de la actriz del siglo XIX como punto pivotante de un estudio más amplio sobre la mujer en esta centuria

A “SERIES OF OPERATIONS”: EDGAR DEGAS, THE STEEPLECHASE, AND THE THEMATICS OF LOSS

This dissertation is the first sustained analysis of Edgar Degas’s two monumental paintings of the steeplechase theme: The Steeplechase, which the artist began around 1866 and continued to revise over the course of four decades, and The Fallen Jockey which he painted around 1896-8. With regard to The Steeplechase my dissertation argues against the conventional art historical view that the painting unproblematically represents Degas’s first major effort to picture modern life. Until now, scholars have viewed the painting within the framework of the art of his impressionist contemporaries, namely those painters who focused on the open air, the vie moderne of Parisian life, the pleasures of the landscape and its many entertainments. Instead, my dissertation redirects attention to the powerful influence of the generation of French painters that preceded Degas, specifically those who themselves took up the theme of horse painting. Through a close textual analysis of Salon criticism, I argue that for Degas, as for his predecessors, the equestrian subject served as a useful pictorial construct by which to grapple with questions to do with the transformation and, ultimately, the loss of history painting—or la grande peinture—during the first half of the nineteenth century. Probing the nature of Degas’s modifications of The Steeplechase, including its final iteration in the form of The Fallen Jockey, this dissertation seeks to demonstrate the depth of Degas’s commitment to ambitious painting—even at the cost of self-exposure of the most intimate kind. Additionally, in tracing the shifting pictorial norms over the course of the second half of the nineteenth century within the context of Degas’s evolving treatment of the steeplechase theme this dissertation will offer an alternative account of the aging artist: rather than a solitary recluse we discover an artist deeply responsive to contemporary currents in art. This appreciation serves as the foundation for my account of Degas’s masterful, yet understudied Fallen Jockey: as essentially a final statement on the fate of ambitious painting in the fin-de-siècle

Vues du train

En 1842, tandis que le réseau ferroviaire français commençait à déployer lentement ses ramifications tentaculaires, l'écrivain Paul de Kock proposait une curieuse métaphore : " Voyager en chemin de fer ne fatigue pas ; c'est un plaisir, un agrément... on se sent rouler avec une douceur inconcevable, ou plutôt on ne se sent pas rouler. On voit fuir devant soi les arbres, les maisons, les villages... tout cela passe ! passe... bien plus vite que dans une lanterne magique... et tout cela e..

The Lives of the Painters of Modern Life: The Careers of Artists in France from Impressionism to Cubism

Modern painting began in France during the nineteenth century. Using transactions from art auctions for the work of 50 leading painters who worked in France during the first century of modern art, I estimate the relationship between the value of a painting and the artist's age at the date of its execution. The econometric estimates show that artists born before 1850 - including Manet, C‚zanne, and Degas - typically produced their most valuable work late in their careers, whereas artists born after 1850 - including Picasso, L‚ger, and Braque - were more likely to have done their most valuable work at early ages. Comparison of these results to evidence drawn from art history textbooks furthermore demonstrates that these artists' most valuable work has also been that most highly regarded by scholars. I argue that the change over time in the shape of these artists' age-price profiles was a result of changes in the nature of painting during the late nineteenth century, as painting increasingly became an activity in which innovation was a principal determinant of an artist's importance.

Quantifying Artistic Success: Ranking French Painters - and Paintings - from Impressionism to Cubism

For 35 leading painters who lived in France during the first century of modern art, this paper uses textbook illustrations as the basis for measuring the importance of both painters and individual paintings. The rankings pose an interesting puzzle: why do some of the greatest artists not produce famous paintings, and why do some relatively minor artists produce some of the most famous individual paintings? The answer may lie in an important difference in approach between experimental and conceptual painters. Experimental artists work incrementally, their innovations appear gradually, and they generally do their best work late in their careers; conceptual artists innovate more suddenly, produce individual breakthrough works, and usually do their best work early in their careers. This paper demonstrates that artistic success can usefully be quantified, and that doing so increases our understanding of the working methods of modern painters.

La dissolution de la généalogie : Degas et Lepic, place de la Concorde

À contre-courant de l’historiographie, cet article s’inscrit dans le contexte de l’intérêt croissant autour de Degas et la race, en démontrant que Le vicomte Lepic et ses filles traversant la place de la Concorde est une machine qui révèle la vacuité des généalogies de la famille, du patriarcat, du pedigree, de la race, de la lignée comme de l’ascendance artistique. Y sont analysées la place, sa représentation au centre urbain et monumental de Paris, à l’épicentre de l’ordre symbolique de la France, ainsi que la crise de l’art moderne et de la politique – éléments que le tableau ne vient pas atténuer. Les marqueurs de filiation et d’affiliation sont examinés, y compris le chien de Lepic sa fonction esthétique ; son pedigree dans l’histoire de l’art via la fresque de Saint Georges de Pisanello ; et son ascendance, un médaillé de l’Exposition universelle canine de 1863 qui fut un terrain d’essai pour l’eugénisme moderne.Against the historiographical grain and addressing growing interest in Degas and race, this article demonstrates that Vicomte Lepic and his daughters (Place de la Concorde) is a machine designed to reveal the vacuousness of genealogies of family, patriarchy, pedigree, race, bloodline, and artistic lineage. Analyzed are the scene’s location and its representation at Paris’s urban and monumental center, ground zero of France’s symbolic order and its crisis of modern art and politics, which the painting does nothing to assuage. Markers of filiation and affiliation are explored, including Lepic’s dog: its aesthetic function; its art historical pedigree in Pisanello’s Saint George fresco; and its descent from a medalist in the 1863 Exposition universelle canine, a testing ground for modern eugenics.Um das wachsende Interesse um Degas und Rasse entgegen dem Strom der Kunstgeschichtsschreibung zu beantworten analysiert dieser Artikel das Bild Vizegraf Lepic und seine Töchter beim Überqueren der Place de la Concorde als Aufdecker der Leere der Familiengenealogien, des Patriarchats, des Stammbaums, der Rasse und der Abstammung sowie der künstlerischen Abstammung. Der Autor analysiert den Ort der gemalten Szene, seine Darstellung im urbanen und monumentalen Zentrum von Paris, im Epizentrum der symbolischen Ordnung Frankreichs, sowie die Krise der modernen Kunst und der Politik – das Gemälde mildert diese Bestandteile nicht. Zeichen der Abstammung und der Zugehörigkeit werden hier untersucht, darunter auch Lepics Hund, seine ästhetische Funktion, sein kunsthistorisches Pedigree (durch das Fresko des Heiligen Georg von Pisanello) und seine Abstammung (ein Medaillengewinner auf der Welthundeausstellung 1863), die ein Testgelände für moderne Eugenik bilden.In opposizione agli studi storiografici, il presente articolo mira a rispondere al crescente interesse intorno a Degas e alla nozione di razza, dimostrando come Il visconte Lepic e le sue figlie che attraversano place de la Concorde sia un dispositivo concepito per rivelare la vacuità delle genealogie di famiglia, del patriarcato, del pedigree, della razza, del lignaggio e dell’ascendenza artistica. Vengono qui analizzati sia la rappresentazione dello spazio dipinto nel quadro e la sua collocazione nel centro urbano e monumentale di Parigi – epicentro dell’ordine simbolico della Francia – sia la crisi dell’arte moderna e della politica, che il dipinto non sembra celare. Sono inoltre analizzati i simboli di filiazione e affiliazione, compreso il cane di Lepic, di cui vengono analizzati la funzione estetica, il pedigree nella storia dell’arte – attraverso l’affresco di San Giorgio di Pisanello – e la sua ascendenza (un cane premiato all’Esposizione universale canina del 1863, primo terreno di prova per l’eugenismo moderno).A contra corriente de la historiografía, en este artículo se trata de responder al creciente interés alrededor de Degas y la raza, demostrando que El vizconde Lepic y sus hijas atraviesan la plaza de la Concordia es un dispositivo concebido para revelar la vacuidad de las genealogías de la familia, del patriarcado, del pedigrí, de la raza, del linaje, así como de la ascendencia artística. Son analizados el lugar de la escena pintada, su representación en el centro urbano y monumental de Paris, en el epicentro del orden simbólico de Francia, así como la crisis del arte moderno y de la política – elementos que el cuadro no viene a atenuar. Son examinados los marcadores de filiación y de afiliación, incluido el perro de Lepic: su función estética; su pedigrí en la historia del arte por medio del fresco de San Jorge de Pisanello; su ascendencia, un galardonado de la Exposición universal canina de 1863, un terreno de ensayo para la eugenesia moderna