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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:
https://www.cnn.com/style/article/edgar-degas-ballet-dancers-artsy/index.html
The sordid truth behind Degas' ballet dancers
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.
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I think you conveyed the dichotomy (the beauty of his talent and the ugliness
SeeingEyeRefugee
Nov 2021
#22
I believe one source referenced the Dreyfus Affair, which evidently is when Degas was
CTyankee
Feb 2021
#7
I don't think Michelangelo being gay would be an issue. Overlooking predation on young girls is
CTyankee
Feb 2021
#9
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