Edgar Degas: A Passionately Informed Modernism

Edgar Degas - Self-Portrait - c. 1857–58 - Oil on paper, mounted on canvas - 10 1/4 x 7 1/2 in. (26 x 19.1 cm) - Clark Museum - Williamstown, MAHaving been born into a rich Franco-Italian banking family, Edgar Degas (1834-1917) was never short of money and never doubted his vocation as a painter. Indeed, his family encouraged him. Nevertheless, he was a shy, insecure, and aloof young man, which one can gather from his early self-portraits.

Degas made nearly forty self-portraits between 1854 and 1864, during his extensive travels in Italy. He studied Old Master paintings and developed his own style. His self-portraits were experiments, and most of them remained in his studio until his death. 

In the work featured here, painted when the artist was around twenty-three years old, Degas reveals a inwardness that suggests the mannerist influence of Jacopo Pontormo—combined with Degas’ own ideas about modernism and his informed understanding of art, past and present. Interestingly, he gave up painting his own face at age thirty-one. It was the faces of others that commanded his attention.

Alfred Sisley: The Unheralded Impressionist

Alfred Sisley - Boats on the Canal - 1873 - Oil on canvas - 46 × 65 cm. - Musée d'Orsay, ParisFrench Impressionist Alfred Sisley (1839-1889) was yet another artist who studied in Charles Gleyre’s studio in 1862, along with fellow painters Monet, Renoir, and Bazille (all of whom are discussed here on What About Art?). Born in Paris to wealthy English parents—Sisley’s pursuit of painting began as a hobby. His family intended for him to go into commerce. However, the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71 brought financial ruin to the Sisley family and caused Sisley.  At this period of crisis, Sisley fled to London and decided to make painting his full-time career. The rest of his life was a constant struggle against poverty. It was only after his death, that Sisley’s talent began to be widely recognized, and the price of his work rose sharply. Even to date, he is under-studied and under appreciated when compared to the other Impressionists.

Primarily a landscape painter, Sisley work is distinguished by those of his Impressionist contemporaries by his use of softly harmonic values and a restricted and delicate palette.

Spring Art History Classes Offered By Jill Kiefer

Impressionism (click photo for larger image)Scarsdale Adult School – Click HERE for More Info and to Register

IMPRESSIONISM and NEO- and POST-IMPRESSIONISM--GATEWAYS TO MODERN ART: Register for the Series or for Individual Sessions.

• THE SEEDS OF IMPRESSIONISM: FOCUS ON MANET, DEGAS, AND MORISOT - Thursday – March 22, 2018 – 1:00-3:00 PM
• IMPRESSIONISM IN FULL BLOOM: FOCUS ON MONET AND PIERRE RENOIR - Thursday – March 29, 2018 – 1:00-3:00 PM
• THE WINDS OF IMPRESSIONISM: FOCUS ON PISSARO AND SISLEY, and NEO-IMPRESSIONISTS SEURAT and SIGNAC - Thursday – April 12, 2018 – 1:00-3:00 PM
• POST-IMPRESSIONISM--A NEW DIRECTION: FOCUS ON CÉZANNE—THE “FATHER OF MODERN ART” - Thursday – April 19, 2018 – 1:00-3:00 PM
• GRAND LEAPS OF THE POST-IMPRESSIONISTS: FOCUS ON VAN GOGH AND GAUGUIN - Thursday – April 26, 2018 – 1:00-3:00 PM

The Center for Continuing Education (Larchmont-Mamaroneck). Click HERE for More Info & to Register.

• THE ART OF MEXICO: A RICH AND TEXTURED TRADITION - Thursday, March 8, 2018 – 9:30-11:30 AM
• REINCARNATIONS: FINDING THE PAST IN THE PRESENT - Thursday, March 15, 2018 – 9:30-11:30 AM
• MUSES: SECRETS AND SCANDALS - Thursday, March 22, 2018 – 9:30-11:30 AM
• GENDER IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF ART - Thursday, March 29, 2018 – 9:30-11:30 AM
• THE FANTASTIC NAÏFS—INSIDERS AND OUTSIDERS - Thursday, April 12, 2018 – 9:30-11:30 AM
• BEAUTY AND THE BEASTS! - Thursday, April 19, 2018 – 9:30-11:30 AM
• UNDER THE COVER OF NIGHT—INSIDE AND OUT - Thursday, April 26, 2018 – 9:30-11:30 AM
• NAKEDNESS AND THE NUDE IN ART - Thursday, May 3, 2018 – 9:30-11:30 AM
• MICHELANGELO: COSMIC GRANDEUR - Thursday, May 10, 2018 – 9:30-11:30 AM
• THE GIANTS OF PHOTOGRAPHY: EARLY JEWELS OF THE PHOTOGRAPHIC MEDIUM - Thursday, May 24, 2018 – 9:30-11:30 AM

Modern Art (click photo for larger image)WHAT AM I LOOKING AT? A SURVEY OF MODERN ART: Register for the Series or for Individual Sessions

• THE FAUVES: “WILD BEASTS” - Thursday – May 3, 2018 – 1:00-3:00 PM
• CUBISM: IT CHANGED THE WAY WE SEE - Thursday – May 10, 2018 – 1:00-3:00 PM
• EXPRESSIONISM: DON’T THINK…FEEL! - Thursday – May 24, 2018 – 1:00-3:00 PM
• DADA: THE ANTI-ART and SURREALISM: THE CONSCIOUS AND UNCONSCIOUS COLLIDE - Thursday – May 31, 2018 – 1:00-3:00 PM BOTH SESSIONS

Gaetano Prevati’s Divisionism

Gaetano Previati - Children with Fruit Baskets (Fanciulli con cesti di frutta), 1916 - Oil on canvas, 100 x 81 cm - Private collection. Loan to the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, VeniceItalian painter and writer Gaetano Previati (1852-1920) was one of the leading exponents of Divisionism (the separation of color into dots or patches applied directly to the canvas).  He was particularly skilled at large-scale decorative schemes, and especially noted for his writings on technique and theory.

Previati studied at the School of Art in Ferrara, in Florence, and in 1877 at the Brera Academy in Milan. In 1878, he turned to Impressionism—starting with historical subjects. But after studying the work of the Pre-Raphaelites, his work became spiritual. During the late 1880s, he adopted Divisionism. During Previati’s lifetime, his work was exhibited throughout Europe. He also wrote several books on theory and technique of painting.

Eugène Henri Cauchois: Impressionistic Flowers

Eugene Henri Cauchois - Floral Still Life of Spring and Autumn - Oil on canvas - 21.02 x 25.51 in. - Private Collection (click photo for larger image)French painter Eugène Henri Cauchois (1850-1911) is most famous for his floral still lifes, although he did occasionally paint landscapes and seascapes. His soft, colorful and lustrous works reflect a strong influence from the great Impressionists of his time. Cauchois's canvases are created with layer upon layer of loose and fluid brush strokes.

The artist exhibited frequently at the Paris Salon from 1874 forward, receiving several awards at the exhibitions including a Bronze medal in 1898, a Bronze in 1900, and a Silver medal in 1904. Towards the end of the nineteenth century he painted several large-scale decorative panels. These works were rendered with a bold stroke, exquisite naturalism and intense color combinations. Cauchois received several commissions for larger works, one of which was from the École de filles de la 7ème arrondissement (Girls School of the 7th district), in Paris, to paint four decorative panels representing the flowers of the four seasons.