Artist Study: Edgar Degas
Class Contributor: Jenn Stec, Overstone Cooperative School, Lexington, KY
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Artist
Edgar Degas (born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas) Birth: July 19, 1834, Paris, France Death: September 27, 1917, Paris, France Period of Art: Realism, Impressionism Contemporaries on the timeline: van Gogh, Cassatt, Monet, Manet, Toulouse-Lautrec, Picasso, Gauguin, Pissarro, Cezanne, Morisot Events on the timeline: Franco-Prussian War Living Books Recommended A Child's History of Art: Painting by V.M. Hillyer Edgar Degas (Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists) by Mike Venezia Degas and the Little Dancer (Anholt's Artist Books for Children) by Laurence Anholt Online Biographies Edgar-Degas.org Biography Met Museum Biography How to do a Picture Study in a Home or Group Setting |
Videos
The Great Impressionists: Edgar Degas. This is an excellent and thorough documentary of Degas's life. As such, it discusses Parisian culture, including a brief mention of prostitution, and it shows paintings with (primarily female) nudity. Degas also illustrated a scene in friend Emile Zola's novel, which is called "The Rape." This is briefly discussed about midway through the documentary.
Private Life of a Masterpiece: Little Dancer Aged Fourteen, is a BBC documentary that chronicles the creation of this famous sculpture, its initial critical reception, and its subsequent place in art history. You should preview this video first. Some of the video may not be appropriate for young children as it contains music/text that reflect the popular view (at the time) that the sculpture was indecent. However, the information about how Degas created the armature for the sculpture is fascinating, as is the idea that the sculpture belonged in the Musée Dupuytren, A Paris Museum Full of Medical Curiosities (search on the museum if you want to be fascinated but horrified - the pics are not "kid-safe" but it shows you how poorly received was the sculpture to many of the audience.) The last part of the video on the bronze-casting of the original wax sculpture, and the auction of the casts, is not to be missed. Perhaps you can show excerpts of the documentary to your students, or narrate it to them.
The below links to the art work represent the highest quality image I could find in the public domain. I've included 16 well known prints so that you can choose the prints that are most suitable for your student(s). We print out each work at an office supply store on light card stock. Each child has their own print for study.
The Great Impressionists: Edgar Degas. This is an excellent and thorough documentary of Degas's life. As such, it discusses Parisian culture, including a brief mention of prostitution, and it shows paintings with (primarily female) nudity. Degas also illustrated a scene in friend Emile Zola's novel, which is called "The Rape." This is briefly discussed about midway through the documentary.
Private Life of a Masterpiece: Little Dancer Aged Fourteen, is a BBC documentary that chronicles the creation of this famous sculpture, its initial critical reception, and its subsequent place in art history. You should preview this video first. Some of the video may not be appropriate for young children as it contains music/text that reflect the popular view (at the time) that the sculpture was indecent. However, the information about how Degas created the armature for the sculpture is fascinating, as is the idea that the sculpture belonged in the Musée Dupuytren, A Paris Museum Full of Medical Curiosities (search on the museum if you want to be fascinated but horrified - the pics are not "kid-safe" but it shows you how poorly received was the sculpture to many of the audience.) The last part of the video on the bronze-casting of the original wax sculpture, and the auction of the casts, is not to be missed. Perhaps you can show excerpts of the documentary to your students, or narrate it to them.
The below links to the art work represent the highest quality image I could find in the public domain. I've included 16 well known prints so that you can choose the prints that are most suitable for your student(s). We print out each work at an office supply store on light card stock. Each child has their own print for study.
- Self Portrait Saluting, 1865-1866
- Dance Class, 1871
- The Ballet Class, 1871-1874
- Dance Class at the Opera, 1872
- Portraits in a New Orleans Cotton Office, 1873
- Race Horses, c. 1873
- The Dance Class, 1874 (SmartHistory video on this artwork)
- Little Dancer Aged Fourteen, 1878-1881 (sculpture, links to history of the sculpture and its critical reception) (on view at the NGA)
- Alexander and Bucephalus, c. 1861-1862 (on view at the NGA)
- At the Milliner's, 1883
- Ballet Scene, 1879
- Orchestra of the Opera, 1869
- Portrait of Hortense Valpincon, 1869-1870
- The Dance Lesson, 1879 (in the NGA collection, but not currently on view. This link includes the background of the painting.)
- Four Dancers, 1899 (on view at the NGA)
- Horse Walking (sculpture), 1920-1921 (on view at the NGA)