Author Description

During more than forty years of his working life, Edgar Degas made at least a thousand drawings, pastels, prints, and oil paintings - to say nothing of photographs, poems, and wax sculptures - of the ballet. His were not always idealized images of beauty and movement. He addressed the routine of the practice room, the drabness of backstage life, the moment of transformation as performers left or entered the stage, and the squalid, amorous adventures between the ballerinas and the black-suited, top-hatted, and often sinister gentlemen who sought their favors after a performance. When he emerged from relative obscurity between 1874 and 1876 to become one of the most prominent members of the Impressionist group, it was the ballet that was identified as his personal artistic trademark. His fine draughtsmanship, responsiveness to the modern spectacle, and sharp observation were universally admired. In this book, the essence of a great Impressionist master's art is conveyed in a brilliant text and splendid images that are an equal joy to balletomanes and admirers of the art of Edgar Degas.