Degas: Impressionist . . . or Not?

Hilaire Edgar Degas was a French sculptor and painter born July 19, 1834 to a banker. He came from a wealthy family, who did not support his decision to become an artist. Instead, they wished him to follow other pursuits such as law. Following his family's direction he began to study law, but soon abandoned it to become a painter.

Feeling very detached from his family, he left for Italy to study art for five years. He admired Renaissance art; this was the focus of his study. He also studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts under J.A.P. Ingres until 1865. It was that year he also gave up Academic subjects and turned more toward contemporary subjects.

"One must do the same subject over and over again ten times, a hundred times. In art nothing must resemble an accident, not even movement."

Though Degas was often classified as in Impressionist, he did not consider himself to be one. Rather than drawing from nature, like most impressionists do, he preferred to work from memory. He never used models, instead he worked from preparatory drawings. He also preferred to work in his studio instead of following the fascinations with light most impressionists have.

"No art is less spontaneous than mine. What I do is a result of reflection and the study of great masters."

Degas' influence came primarily from Japanese prints and other forms of photography. His work, often depicted from very unique angles, was very carefully arranged. He enjoyed combining both classical and romantic styles in his paintings.

"It is all very well to copy what one sees, but it is far better to draw what one now only sees in one's memory. That is a transformation in which imagination collaborates with memory."

He became known as the master of human figures in motion. Ballerinas and racehorses were his favorite themes in the 1870s. In the 1880s, he abandoned his use of oils for his preferred medium, pastels.

"Everyone has talent at twenty-five. The difficulty is to have it at fifty."

Later in life he became guarded and withdrawn from social circles. With his failing eyesight, he was forced to move out of the realms of painting and into that of sculpting. His talents did not surface until after his death, September 27, 1919, when the public finally knew him. The Cotton Exchange at New Orleans was the only picture to be acquired by a museum in his lifetime.

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Resources:
http://metalab.unc.edu/wm/paint/auth/deg...
http://www.mcs.cshayward.edu/~malek/Edga...
http://kids.infoplease.lycos.com/ce6/peo...
http://www.geocities.com/rrl7bb/degas.ht...
http://www.ocaiw.com/degasbio.htm
The Notebooks of Edgar Degas, 1976

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