EDGAR DEGAS

ART

(1834 - 1917)
Edgar Degas, was born in Paris to Auguste Degas, a banker of French and Italian decent, and Célestine Musson a Creole from Louisiana. Acknowledged as the master of drawing the human figure in motion, Degas worked in many mediums, with a preference for pastels. He is perhaps best known for his paintings, drawings, monotypes and bronzes of ballerinas and horses.

Degas took part in all but one of the eight impressionist exhibitions between 1874 and 1886 and was the founder of the original group with Monet.
The Brothel series, which these aquatint etchings are taken from along with the Bathroom scenes, nearly all of which were produced in the late 1870’s and early 1880s, consists of monotypes, a smaller number of pastels (all of them reworked monotypes). By this date there were several thousand official police inspected establishments and approximately 40,000 prostitutes in Paris, including the unofficial ones. Often garishly furnished these houses were something like clubs which Frenchmen went to for relaxation and escape from family stuffiness, as naturally as they went to cafés.A number of artists and writers of the period had used the subject of the brothel in their work. When showing one of his bathroom scenes to George Moore, Degas commented:
            “It’s the human animal taking care of its body, a female cat licking herself. Hitherto the nude has always been represented in poses which presuppose an audience, but these women of mine are honest, simple folk, unconcerned by any other interests than those involved in their physical condition. Here is another: she is washing her feet.”
There is no reason to suppose that Degas sneaked through darkened Paris streets in search of lighted bedrooms, bathrooms and brothel keyholes. His works were constructed from a combination of imagination, memory and studio props. His spectator eroticism was a legitimate part of his inspiration, just as Michelangelo’s sublimated homosexuality was to his art, and just as ambiguous psychological interests are to the making of any great art. This is a consistency in Degas’ works as a large part of his output is explicitly concerned with the professional world of spectacle, in the circus, ballet and theatre, and the rest with their strange viewer perspective, has to do with looking and watching from hidden corners.
This voyeurism is played out in paintings and pastels as well as the monotypes. There are scores of unaware women combing their hair and washing their bodies, notice the little man gazing at the prostitute in Admiration. Several of the sprawling courtesans in the In the Salon series call attention to their undressed state, which is pure fiction or fantasy as they did not greet clients undressed, by prancing about in stockings and skimpy shifts. They are nearly all unaware of being watched. Historically this is a big change from the female posing herself to her best advantage for the gaze of the viewer/artist.
Around 1892 Michel Manzi the engineer, engraver, collector and art dealer brought out a much praised album of reproductions of some of Degas’ drawings and pastels. One does not know what Degas thought of these reproductions, but as he continued to want to work with engravers we can assume he was pleased with the results, even though none of the other ventures realized in his lifetime. Degas produced 27 monotypes towards the end of the 1870’s that he intended as illustrations for an edition of Halévy’s account of the adventures of Monsieur and Madam Cardinal and their dancing daughters. The prints were not used for the book until nearly sixty years when Vollard published them along with these aquatint-etchings for another volume by Guy Maupassant entitled La Maison Tellier. The reason is thought to be because that Halévy found them too unrelated to specific incidents in the text. This is also true of the works Vollard chose to have the engraver Maurice Potin reproduce for his publication of La Maison Tellier. The principal reason for Vollard wanting to publish was the monotypes not the stories.
Ambrose Vollard has been one of the worlds great art publishers. These aquatint-etchings are from one of the 44 editions deluxe published by Vollard in his lifetime.