Degas in New Orleans: Encounters in the Creole World of Kate Chopin and George Washington Cable

by Christopher E.G. Benfey

Edgar Degas traveled from Paris to New Orleans during the fall of 1872 to visit the American branch of his mother's family, the Mussons. This war-torn, diverse, and conflicted city elicited from Degas some of his finest paintings. He arrived at a key moment in the cultural history of this most exotic of American cities, still recovering from the agony of the Civil War. This decisive period of Reconstruction, in which his American relatives were importantly involved, was also the time when the American writers Kate Chopin and George Washington Cable were beginning to mine the resources of New Orleans culture and history.

Genres: Nonfiction, Art, History

294 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Christopher E.G. Benfey, Ph.D. (Comparative Literature, Harvard University, 1983; B.A., Guilford College) is Andrew W. Mellon Professor Emeritus of English at Mount Holyoke College, a literary critic, and scholar of Emily Dickinson. He is a Guggenheim Fellow, and a fellow of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Prof. Benfey served as the long-time art critic for the online magazine Slate, and is a frequent contributor to The New York Review of Books, The New York Times Book Review, and The New Republic, among many other publications.

Reviews

[Paul Haspel · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 1872, artist Edgar Degas left his home city of Paris and traveled to New Orleans, where he stayed for a few months. In so doing, Degas left a turbulent Paris that had just experienced military defeat (in the Franco-Prussian War), German occupation, and the turmoil of the Commune, and entered an equally turbulent New Orleans community that had recently endured military defeat (in the American Civil War) and Union occupation, and was going through the turmoil of the Reconstruction period. In Degas in New Orleans, Christopher Benfey captures well the manner in which a great artist responded to life in a dynamic and troubled community. As Benfey points out, Degas was not the only gifted creative artist in the New Orleans of that time; two of the most important writers of 19th-century Southern literature, George Washington Cable and Kate Chopin, likewise lived in New Orleans. Degas, Chopin, and Cable all drew creative inspiration from their time in a community that was facing troubling definitional issues with regard to race, gender, socioeconomic class, and national/regional identity. Seamlessly, Benfey combines elements of art history (with inspired close readings of several of Degas's paintings), literary history (his readings of Cable's and Chopin's fiction are likewise thoughtful and persuasive), architectural analysis (of important homes in the French Quarter, particularly homes on Esplanade Street that were associated with Degas's relations in New Orleans), and the political and social history of the difficult Reconstruction period. It might have been good if color plates could have been provided for more of the paintings that Benfey discusses, but I can understand that doing so might have raised the price of the book to prohibitive levels. Overall, Degas in New Orleans is a powerful, thoughtful, evocative book.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

God, I wish I'd had this guy in college - what a brilliant teacher he must be. He's a genius at connecting history with literature and art in a compelling tableau. More, please!

[Mandi · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a resident of New Orleans, I knew that Degas had visited briefly to stay with his relatives the Musson family. In fact, their family home is now a bed and breakfast that also offers historical tours about Degas and his time in New Orleans. I was very excited to stumble upon this book and gain more insight into Degas and his time here. While the book does provide quite a bit of information about Degas and his time in New Orleans, the book is actually more of a study in the political and racial history of New Orleans in the periods before, during, and after the Civil War. I found it completely engrossing and enlightening, and I feel like I really have a better understanding of how New Orleans came to be the unique city that it is today thanks to this thorough history of Creole society.

[Kristine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Degas traveled to New Orleans after the Civil War to visit his mother's side of the family. This book chronicles some of the people he met and those he already knew that influenced his paintings during that time period. I liked the book because I am interested in art history, however there were times when I had to remind myself how certain sections tied in with Degas.

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

A rich and brilliant exploration of 19th century New Orleans that uses paintings by Degas and fictions by Cable and Chopin to examine the compelling and complicated history of my favorite city. An exhilarating blend of art, literary, and cultural scholarship that even readers not as obsessed with the Crescent City as I am would enjoy.

[Roberta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who knew he even went to New Orleans? Lots of atmosphere and nice biographical details...and pictures!