Manet/Degas: Catalogue

by Ashley Dunn, Stéphane Guégan (Editor), Isolde Pludermacher (Editor)

The first publication on the personal and professional relationship between Manet and Degas, two giants of nineteenth-century French art

Friends, rivals, and at times antagonists, Edouard Manet and Edgar Degas maintained a pictorial dialogue throughout their lives as they both worked to define the painting of modern urban life. Manet/Degas, the first book to consider their careers in parallel, investigates how their objectives overlapped, diverged, and shaped each other's artistic choices. Enlivened by archival correspondence and records of firsthand accounts, essays by American and French scholars take a fresh look at the artists' family relationships, literary friendships, and interconnected social and intellectual circles in Paris; explore their complex depictions of race and class; discuss their political views in the context of wars in France and the United States; compare their artistic practices; and examine how Degas built his personal collection of works by Manet after his friend's premature death. An illustrated biographical chronology charts their intersecting lives and careers. This lavishly illustrated, in-depth study offers an opportunity to reevaluate some of the most canonical French artworks of the nineteenth century, including Manet's Olympia, Degas's The Absinthe Drinker, and other masterworks.

272 pages, Hardcover

Published March 23, 2023

Reviews

[Maya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful print quality, and the essay on how Manet and Degas thought about the demimonde, race, and class was particularly insightful. But this felt more like a collection of scholarly essays than an overview book, and flipping to the reference images felt choppy and cumbersome. I’m happy to have picked this book up, but I need more background knowledge on Manet and Degas to appreciate it better.

[Jennifer]

Looking forward to viewing this exhibit in December.

[Kayley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing.