Degas: A Passion for Perfection

by Jane Munro (Editor)

A beautiful celebration of six decades of work by Edgar Degas, published in the centennial year of the artist’s death

Edgar Degas’s (1834–1917) relentless experimentation with technical procedures is a hallmark of his lifelong desire to learn. The numerous iterations of compositions and poses suggest an intense self-discipline, as well as a refusal to accept any creative solution as definitive or finite. Published in the centenary year of the artist’s death, this book presents an exceptional array of Degas’s work, including paintings, drawings, pastels, etchings, monotypes, counter proofs, and sculpture, with approximately sixty key works from private and public collections in Europe and the United States, some of them published here for the first time. Shown together, the impressive works represent well over half a century of innovation and artistic production.
 
Essays by leading Degas scholars and conservation scientists explore his practice and recurring themes of the human figure and landscape.

The book opens with a study of Degas’s debt to the Old Masters, and it concludes with a consideration of his artistic legacy and his influence on leading artists of the 20th and 21st centuries, including Francis Bacon, Frank Auerbach, Ryan Gander, David Hockney, Howard Hodgkin, R. B. Kitaj, Pablo Picasso, and Walter Sickert.

Genres: Art

272 pages, Hardcover

Published November 14, 2017

Reviews

[Ruth Brumby · Rating 4 out of 5]

The size of the book and the shiny paper made it physically difficult to read, but the illustrations and essays are excellent. Quite a detailed art historical approach mostly, rather than interpretative, but full of fascinating information.

[Margaret De Vries · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read slowly and peruse the photos carefully....so I absorbed a lot of this book. I think it was a good book. I enjoy reading fiction better but learned a lot about Edgar Vegas and his work.