The first book devoted to the intriguing and complex relationship between Degas’s art and Japanese prints Many celebrated pictures by Edgar Degas (1834–1917)—showing ballet dancers, popular performers, and bathers, for example—were indebted to Japanese images of similar contemporary subjects. Degas and his generation were captivated by Japanese culture: he assembled his own collection of Ukiyo-e prints and several of his friends were leading authorities on artists such as Hokusai, Utamaro, and Hiroshige. Degas and the Art of Japan explores the French Impressionist’s lifelong fascination with the work of his Japanese counterparts. Adding substantially to previous studies, the authors propose new links between some of Degas’s characteristic themes, such as laundresses and horse racing, and the woodblock designs of Ukiyo-e masters. Fresh light is also shed on another signature trait of the artist—his fascination with women in their public and private lives—which is echoed in the prevalence of female subjects in Japanese woodblock imagery. Equally significant are revelations about Degas’s access to specific Japanese prints belonging to collectors and dealers in Paris. Works by Degas in all media are considered—paintings, pastels, drawings, lithographs, etchings, monotypes, and sculpture—and juxtaposed with Japanese prints, illustrated books, and decorated fans. Comparable human predicaments and parallels in visual language are all part of this wide-ranging analysis, which deepens our understanding of one of the world’s greatest artists.

Degas and the Art of Japan

Arts & Photography

Kendall, Richard

DeVonyar, Jill

History & Criticism

Reading Public Museum

Among the supreme masterpieces of 19th-century art are Edgar Degas's dramatic, incisive, and often brilliantly colored pictures of the ballet. Yet despite his enormous popularity as the foremost artist of the dance—with more than half his vast body of paintings, pastels, drawings, and sculptures devoted to the on- and off-stage activities of ballerinas—this is the first book to illuminate the theme in its historical context. This authoritative volume presents much new material about Degas as an artist and his relationship with the ballet of his day. Far more knowledgeable about the training and technique of dancers than has previously been realized, Degas is shown responding to numerous ballet productions at the Paris Opéra, to the shadowy life of the wings, and to the daily routines of the classroom. Originally published to accompany an acclaimed exhibition at the Detroit Institute of Arts and the Philadelphia Museum of Art , this lavish, richly illustrated volume should fascinate a wide audience of art- and dance-lovers.

Degas and the Dance

Harry N. Abrams

Edgar Degas is best known for his luminous studies of dancers. He captured his young female subjects warming up, practicing at the bar, or mid-performance with a stunning immediacy and accuracy, on canvas, paper, and in bronze. Although Degas did not consider himself part of the Impressionist movement, he is often viewed in that context. This sumptuously illustrated book offers a new framework, establishing Degas as a thoroughly modern artist who was engaged with and influenced by the then-new mediums of photography and film. Using drawings, pastels, paintings, prints, sculpture, photographs taken by the artist and his contemporaries, and samples of film from the period, renowned Degas scholars Richard Kendall and Jill DeVonyar examine the artist’s innovative approach to the subject, from his documentary mode of the early 1870s to the sensuous and expressive manner of his late work.

Degas and the Ballet: Picturing Movement

Reference

Royal Academy Publications

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by DeVonyar, Jill. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by DeVonyar, Jill