|
|
Dancers in ArtThe Dancer
|
|
|
Degas will always be associated with dancers, given his beautiful renditions of the ballet in art. |
|
One of the most famous sculptures, ever created, is Degas' Little Dancer, Aged Fourteen, which was modeled on a young student at the Paris Opéra. With a fit of creativity he took his wax sculpture and dressed in it costume using real fabrics such as silk for the bodice and gauze for the tutu providing a shocking realism to the piece. |
|
After the artist's death his heirs took the original Degas designed mold and cast nearly thirty bronze copies from the wax cast. These posthumous Bronze works were given two additional items a gauze tutu and silk ribbon for the Dancer's hair.
Title: Dancer on Pointe, c. 1877
Artist: Edgar Degas (French 1834-1917)
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Dimensions: 19 ¾ x 23 5/8 in.,
Collection of Diane B. Wilsey.
Image Courtesy: Portland Art Museum
Oils were a favored method for Degas to produce some enchanting images of dancers such as Dancer on Pointe. This painting illustrates the dancer in movement, a key element of Impressionism, to wit Degas was a leader in this group of like-minded artists. The young girl balances on one foot moving to the accompanying music. Degas was unparalled in his ability to illustrate ballet performances on a canvas.
Jean-Louis Forain
Title: Evening at the Opéra, c. 1879,
Jean-Louis Forain (French 1852-1931)
Medium: Gouache, some graphite or chalk at left, on parchment (fan),
Dimensions: 6 5/8 (stick height) x 23 ¼ diam. in.,
The Dixon Gallery and Gardens,
Memphis, Tennessee,
Museum Purchase, 1993.7 48
Image Courtesy: Portland Art Museum
Degas's good friend Jean-Louis Forain was also a French Impressionist. Forain joined Manet, Degas and others in four of the Impressionist exhibitions. Like Monet before him Forain's early career was as a caricaturist. Monet's renditions were for tourists, Forain's work was for Parisian journals.
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
|
|
Parisian nightlife beckoned French artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. The Belle Époque life at the Moulin Rouge was a favored subject for the son of French Nobility. His father was the Comte Alphonse-Charles de Toulouse. His family wealth enabled him to endulge in his chosen profession at an early age easily paying for some fine teachers such as Rene Princeteau, Leon Bonnet and Fernand Cormon. |
|
Toulouse-Lautrec's first experimentation with color lithography creating the poster Moulin Rouge – La Goulue made his name in Paris. With over 3,000 copies pasted all over the French capital it brought true overnight success to the artist. |
|
Dancer is an intriguing subject in art whether the elegant lines of a ballet dancer to comedic vaudeville routines, all provide fodder illustrating not only the craft but the different social levels between patrons and performers. The Portland Art Museum will be home to an exhibition celebrating rhymthmic movements through one hundred and twenty-five paintings, sculptures, drawings, and prints created by Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec and Forain.
The Dancer
Degas, Forain, and Toulouse-Lautrec
Portland Museum of Art:
February 2 – May 11, 2008