A beautifully produced literary art book that restores a collection of drawings and pastels to the heart of the life story of one of the great artists of the 19th century

Edgar Degas (1834 - 1917) was described as 'the most intelligent, the most demanding, the most merciless draughtsman in the world' by the poet and critic Paul Valery and today Degas is considered one of the outstanding draughtsman of the late nineteenth century. His powerful drawings and the pastles, which he himself characterized as 'orgies of colour', are some of the most compelling works in western art.

Drawing was not only the central tenet of Degas's art but also virtually a daily activity. Through an examination of the artist's drawings and pastels, which exist in great number and variety, Christopher Lloyd examines the development of Degas's style and outlines the story of his life in the contexts of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism.

Following a broadly chronological approach, Lloyd discusses the wide range of Degas's work: the images of ballet dancers (which form over half of the artist's oeuvre), jockeys, laundresses, milliners and female nudes, as well as the less well-known landscape drawings. With over 200 illustrations that capture the most fleeting of subtleties and shades, this book provides a comprehensive and engaging account of the artist as draughtsman.

Contents List:

Introduction • 1. Beginnings 1853–1855 • 2. Italy 1856–1859 • 3. History Paintings 1860–1865 • 4. Changing Directions 1865–1870 • 5. Confronting the Modern World 1870–1879 • 6. Retreat into the Studio 1880–1890 • 7. Landscape Drawings • 8. ‘The Dying of the Light’ 1890–c. 1912

About the Author:

Christopher Lloyd worked in the Department of Western Art of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford from 1968 to 1988, combining curatorial duties with teaching. During that time he was appointed by Harvard University to a Fellowship at Villa I Tatti in Florence and was Visiting Research Curator of Early Italian Painting at the Art Institute of Chicago. He was appointed Surveyor of The Queen’s Pictures in the British Royal Collection in 1988 and retired from that post in 2005. He is now engaged in writing and organizing exhibitions on a wide variety of subjects. His publications include monographs on painters, catalogues of museum collections and surveys of the Royal Collection, as well as In Search of a Masterpiece: An Art Lover’s Guide to Great Britain and Ireland, Edgar Degas: Drawings and Pastels and Paul Cézanne: Drawings and Watercolours, all published by Thames & Hudson.

French artist Edgar Degas was famous for his drawing, painting, sculpture and printmaking. Although a member of the Impressionists, with Monet, Pissaro and Renoir his work focused on indoor subjects, particularly his acutely observed pieces on ballerinas. His masterful studies of real-life resonate still today and he remains one of the most popular painters in the world. This beautiful new book showcases all of his major works (including Ballet Rehearsal, The Star and The Ballet Class), with detailed captions, and a long essay on life, art and influences.

Capturing fleeting moments. Degas’s mastery in the depiction of movement

Most commonly associated with the birth of the Impressionist movement in mid-19th-century Paris, Edgar Degas (1834–1917) in fact defied easy categorization and instead developed a unique style, strongly influenced by Old Masters, the body in motion, and everyday urban life.

The elder scion of a wealthy family, Degas cofounded a series of exhibitions of “Impressionist” art, but soon disassociated himself from the group in pursuit of a more realist approach. His subjects centered on the teeming, noisy streets of Paris, as well as its leisure entertainments, such as horse racing, cabarets, and, most particularly, ballet. With often ambitious, off-kilter vantage points, his images of ballerinas numbered approximately 1,500 works, all deeply invested in the physicality and the discipline of dance.

Through illustrations of Foyer de la Danse (1872), Musicians in the Orchestra (1872), and many more, this book provides an essential overview of the artist who created a category all his own, a world of classical resonance, bold compositions, and an endless fascination with movement, which together produced some of the most striking and influential works of the era.

About the series:

Each book in TASCHEN's Basic Art series features:

- a detailed chronological summary of the life and oeuvre of the artist, covering his or her cultural and historical importance
- a concise biography
- approximately 100 illustrations with explanatory captions

Capturing fleeting moments. Degas’s mastery in the depiction of movement

"No art could be less spontaneous than mine. Inspiration, spontaneity, temperament are unknown to me. One has to do the same subject ten times, even a hundred times over. In art, nothing should look like chance, not even movement."  - Edgar Degas

In terms of both theme and technique, the key to understanding the early work of Edgar Degas (1834–1917) is classical painting. Although he was eventually associated with the Impressionists and even participated in their joint exhibitions, Degas never adopted a purely Impressionist approach.

Degas’s work, reflecting an extremely personal and psychological perspective, emphasizes the scenic or concentrates on the detail. Thus, Degas’s painting is often discussed with reference to the rise of short-exposure photography. Thematically, nature proved less interesting to the artist than the life and inhabitants of the modern metropolis. Degas primarily sought his motifs at the race track or circus, in bedrooms, or in ballet salons - and dancers always remained his favorite theme.

About the Series:
Every book in TASCHEN's Basic Art Series features:

- a detailed chronological summary of the artist's life and work, covering the cultural and historical importance of the artist
- approximately 100 color illustrations with explanatory captions
- a concise biography

In light of the popular, “beautiful” paintings of his Impressionist phase, it is easy to lose sight of the complexity of the oeuvre of Edgar Degas (1834–1917). All his life, the artist experimented with printing techniques and drawing as well as photography and sculpture. In his late work (1890–1910/12), the delicate, detailed painting of his mature period yields to a unique pleasure in technical experimentation and an obsessive creativity, which increasingly liberated the means of depiction from its reproductive function. As if in a dreamlike state, the present and past, things seen and remembered, are united, resulting in nude studies, ballet scenes, landscapes, and portraits. This is the first publication to present a comprehensive view of the technical diversity and wide range of themes in Degas’ oeuvre.

Книга о французском живописце-импрессионисте, гравере и скульпторе Эдгаре Дега (1834–1917).

В центре творчества Дега всегда оставалась жизнь современного ему города. Через выражения лиц и позы персонажей, а также через композиционные средства ему замечательным образом удалось передать одиночество и отчужденность людей в большом городе. Для композиций Дега характерна неожиданная кадрировка, когда зачастую персонажи размещаются не в центре, а ближе к краю картины. Он всегда считал себя независимым художником, ему чужды были манера письма и радостная атмосфера импрессионистических пейзажей, но в 1874 году он присоединился к группе импрессионистов и участвовал в восьми их выставках. К концу жизни художник ослеп и вынужден был оставить живопись и заниматься исключительно скульптурой.

Книга состоит из восьми глав, подробно рассказывающих о жизни художника и об истории создания каждой картины, представленной в издании. В конце книги приводится хронология жизни и творчества мастера, проиллюстрированная документальными фотографиями, а также библиография избранных трудов о Дега.