Among the best known and most immediately recognizable images in art history are the superb studies and portraits of ballet dancers by Edgar Degas (1834–1917). One of the most popular of nineteenth-century artists, Degas was fascinated by movement, especially that of dancers. His highly trained eye enabled him to capture the dancer's grace and power as well as subtleties and nuances of pose and execution, making his pictures as true in fact as they are in spirit. This original compilation includes 41 full-page and six half-page black-and-white Degas drawings of dancers. Some are finished works, others are sketches or studies for future works. Singly, in pairs, and in groups, the dancers appear on stage, in the classroom, and at rehearsals—pirouetting, executing grand battements and portes de bras, practicing at the barre, and adjusting their costumes in moments of repose. Art enthusiasts and balletomanes who prize Degas' pictures of dancers will delight in the sublime beauty and mastery of expression of these images. This inexpensive edition allows lovers of art and the dance to savor these enchanting, beautifully reproduced drawings.
Author
Edgar Degas (born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas) was a French artist famous for his work in painting, sculpture, printmaking and drawing. He is regarded as one of the founders of Impressionism although he rejected the term, and preferred to be called a realist. A superb draughtsman, he is especially identified with the subject of the dance, and over half his works depict dancers. These display his mastery in the depiction of movement, as do his racecourse subjects and female nudes. His portraits are considered to be among the finest in the history of art. Early in his career, his ambition was to be a history painter, a calling for which he was well prepared by his rigorous academic training and close study of classic art. In his early thirties, he changed course, and by bringing the traditional methods of a history painter to bear on contemporary subject matter, he became a classical painter of modern life.
