What Degas Saw

Description

What Degas Saw looks at the world through a beloved artist's eyes and provides insight into his creative process. Walking through the streets of Paris with cape and cane, the French artist Edgar Degas observes the world around him, finding inspiration at every turn. From the blurry faces of passersby glimpsed through a bus window to the sundappled landscape seen from a moving train, from the hunched profiles of laundresses at work to light-bathed ballerinas on the opera house stage, the artist - with open eyes and a curious mind - collects impressions of the people and places he sees.

Samantha Friedman is an assistant curator in the Department of Drawings and Prints at The Museum of Modern Art in New York. She is the author of Matisse's Garden, among other books on modern art. She lives Brooklyn. Hilaire-Germain-Edgar Degas (1834-1917) was a painter, draftsman, printmaker, and sculptor celebrated for his scenes of modern life.

"An interesting view into the relationship between an artist and his daily life, and it will be useful as a preparation for a museum trip."-- "Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books" "Friedman's text, artful and elegant, is perfectly choreographed with the artwork and design. The author finds just the right words for Degas's impulse to 'try to describe the city's push and pull, its run and jump, its lean and stretch.' A work of art."-- "Shelf Awareness"