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Writing

In reply to the discussion: Hi. Can you give me some advice? [View all]

Gaugamela

(2,485 posts)
4. Not advice, but I read this recently about Degas:
Sun Feb 28, 2021, 01:35 PM
Feb 2021
https://www.cnn.com/style/article/edgar-degas-ballet-dancers-artsy/index.html

The sordid truth behind Degas' ballet dancers

The sexual politics that played out in the foyer de la danse was of great interest to Degas. In fact, very few of his depictions of the dance show an actual performance. Instead, the artist hovers behind the wings, backstage, in class or at a rehearsal. In works like "L'Étoile (The Star)," from 1878, he depicts the curtain call at the end of the performance, with the curtsying dancer bathed in the unflattering glare of the lights. Behind her, a man in an elegant black tuxedo lurks in the wings, his face hidden by the goldenrod curtain.

. . .

Life was cruel to French ballet dancers, and they didn't have it much easier at the hands of Degas himself. Although the artist was known to reject the advances of his models, his callousness manifested in other ways. To capture the physicality and discipline of the dancers, Degas demanded his models pose for hours at a time, enduring excruciating discomfort as they held their contorted positions. He wanted to capture his "little monkey girls," as he called them, "cracking their joints" at the barre. "I have perhaps too often considered woman as an animal," he once told the painter Pierre Georges Jeanniot in a moment of revealing honesty.
I didn't know that about Degas. Ocelot II Feb 2021 #1
The thing is that I love Degas work (I don't love Wagner's music). CTyankee Feb 2021 #5
I do like Wagner's music (I'm listening to "Das Rheingold" right now), Ocelot II Feb 2021 #6
But didn't the Nazis glorify Wagner very loudly and publicly? CTyankee Feb 2021 #10
They did, but that doesn't make his music less valuable; Ocelot II Feb 2021 #12
I think you conveyed the dichotomy (the beauty of his talent and the ugliness SeeingEyeRefugee Nov 2021 #22
I think it's easy to forget or ignore the deep vein of anti-Semitism cyclonefence Feb 2021 #2
I believe one source referenced the Dreyfus Affair, which evidently is when Degas was CTyankee Feb 2021 #7
Were the ballet dancers kept by these men? cyclonefence Feb 2021 #13
I am guessing that these girls were sexually exploited. CTyankee Feb 2021 #15
I agree cyclonefence Feb 2021 #18
Sadly, yes. CTyankee Mar 2021 #19
I think I'd skip it Bayard Feb 2021 #3
I don't think Michelangelo being gay would be an issue. Overlooking predation on young girls is CTyankee Feb 2021 #9
Not advice, but I read this recently about Degas: Gaugamela Feb 2021 #4
Yes, I have that source. He did paint their pain and exhaustion. And you see in his sculpture, The CTyankee Feb 2021 #8
It's no secret that artists tend to be eccentric misfits. It seems Degas' work may be closer to Gaugamela Feb 2021 #11
well, for one thing, Degas did not want to paint outdoors and said so. CTyankee Feb 2021 #14
I wish you well on your book. Sounds like a labor of love. Gaugamela Feb 2021 #16
It is. I'm old now but I love art history. working on this book keeps my mind from turning into CTyankee Feb 2021 #17
You might look at how the recent controversies over Gaughan are being Mike 03 Mar 2021 #20
I'm not that interested in Gauguin, to be honest. But I am not surprised at this discovery. CTyankee Mar 2021 #21
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