Degas

by Werner Hofmann

An intriguing, marvelously illustrated, landmark survey of this popular painter's work. We tend to think of Degas as an Impressionist who painted lovely ballerinas and lively scenes at the racetrack. As Werner Hofmann so ably demonsrates in his magisterial new study, that viewpoint fails to do justice to the issues that Degas addressed in his art and to how innovative he truly was. Focusing on people in their social environment, on their relationships and their frequent isolation, Degas embraced many kinds of personal alientaiton in his work. His early paintings depict members of the bourgeoisie mainly in the role of observers (as in The Bellelli Family of 1859). Degas shows them indulging in leisure pursuits, as art collectors and museum visitors, or as members of the public at the theater and the races, but they are self-involved and shrouded in silence. This aura of self-posessed calm contrasts with that of the people who inhabit the world of entertainment. Degas depicted all the stages of public behind the scenes, the performances themselves, and the post-performance collapse of illusion, Hofmann investigates this in various the self-absorbed body (women at their toilette); the trained body (ballet rehearsals and dancers on stage); musicians; and the marketed body (women in brothels). Werener Hofmann was Director of the Kunsthalle in Hamburg from 1970 to 1990. His many books include Goya and Caspar David Friedrich .

Genres: Art

319 pages, Hardcover

First published November 30, 2007

Reviews

[Alexis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Le texte accompagnant les oeuvres est d'une telle suffisance, mettant en série un maximum de mots savant pour paraitre lui même savant que cela nuit à l'admiration des oeuvres.

[Rachel Woodward · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the full page color pictures (this book is almost 10.5"x12.5") but I thought the book focused too much on the human figure as an object, with Chapters like "Bodies Adorned and Used" and "Liberties Bought and Sold." I thought an unnecessary amount of space was devoted to rough vulgar sketches Degas made of prostitutes and other things that are shameful to depict. I would rather have a book that focused more on the positive aspects of Degas' work, rather than the dark side. Historians have the liberty to choose.

[Peanut]

I saw this at the Houston Museum of Fine Arts gift shop and it's DEF. worth the money! It was $75 at the shop, but only $51, used at amazon.com