Degas and Other Musings (that's the only possible title for this post)

Edward Degas (1834-1917)

Seated Violinist, 1977, oil on canvas

Edward Degas (1834-1917)

Ballerina in Blue, date unknown, oil on canvas

Jules Joseph Lefebvre (1836–1911)
Young Woman with Morning Glories in Her Hair, 1870, oil on canvas

Degas was a rebel. Isn't that funny? I'll never get over how fun it is to be a Modernist. It's called MODERN art, because it was so revolutionary and well, edgy. But now everyone has calendars of little French prostitutes skipping about and multicolored haystacks and their neighbors don't accuse them of Anarchy. How could waterlilies have been so subversive? I love it when someone tells me that they don't like Modern art--I get to have a little moment in my head when I say "Oh yeah, Monet really rubs you wrong?"

Degas was, in fact, a double rebel, because he defied the French Academie, who liked paintings like this one on the right -->
by Lefebvre (obviously chosen by men, while they smoked cigars and congratulated each other on their impressively large...fortunes.).

Claude Monet (1841-1926)
  Boulevard des Capucines, 1873, oil on canvas

 
 But, Degas also went against his buds, like Monet, Manet and Tippy-Tippy-Day-Day by returning to the figure. Most Impressionists, although they had very diverse subject matter, avoided figures except at a distance, like the image on the left, which is only about two feet wide.  Some of my favorite Impressionist paintings are the anomalies that have figures in them (like Monet's Girl with the Red Kerchief). Note: Please do not talk about the impressive work of Tippy-Tippy-Day-Day, that's a Seinfeild reference. I've promised myself, though, that if any student writes it (or "TTDD" for short) on a test, I'll give them bonus points.

Claude Monet (1841-1926)
Impression Sunrise, 1872, oil on canvas

I really enjoy abstract works (that is what I focus on when I do research) and even the occasional landscape, but I find portraits and other figural works the most captivating when I'm in museums. That's why I like Degas, I think.

I'm not a quote person. Some people are always throwing them up on facebook, buying diaries that have quote for each day, or putting them on their walls and such. I recently heard of a person (thank you Jackson) who puts their own quotes on their walls. Hmmmm....not so sure about that. Anyway, I like this quote from Degas, who didn't quite buy into the oft-taught-in-Art History 1010 tenants of Impressionism, such as interest in light on landscape, the new infusion of steam into the atmosphere of the city, and the idea that everything must be fundamentally new and unplanned. He says:

No art was ever less spontaneous than mine. What I do is the result of reflection and study of the great masters; of inspiration, spontaneity, temperament, I know nothing. 

 

Edward Degas (1834-1917)

Blue Dancers, 1989, oil on canvas

I've been studying (and thus getting really tired of) a lot of Abstract Expressionists who adopted the romantic idea of spontaneity and carefully. slowly. put it into practice over several years. I'm getting tired of fighting the idea that artists receive a bolt of genius, strip naked and start throwing paint at one another...although that does sound fun.  I think Degas had it about right.

I might also be hanging out with a young man (*cough* Michael) who has to write a thesis, but is struggling (even though he has a macbook--isn't it true that if you buy a mac, you'll be able to write the next, great American novel?) and thus, has to work on it everyday. But, hey, looks like all Tim Tebow has to do to be good at football is pray (not play football his whole life). Maybe if Michael just struck that pose between paragraphs everything would work out. 

Or, maybe this is what really happened:

Just watch for Gandalf Michael. 

I bet you didn't think this post was going to end with a picture of Gandalf and Tim Tebow, did you? I'm a multifaceted blogger.