STrUCTioN - Taschen

January 2013
January 2013
Capturing fleeting moments
Degas’s mastery in the depiction of movement
A Frenchman in Tahiti
Gauguin’s search for pristine originality and unadulterated nature
In terms of both theme and technique, the key to understanding the early work of
Edgar Degas is classical painting. Although he was eventually associated with the
Impressionists and even participated in their joint exhibitions, Degas never adopted a
purely Impressionist approach.
Degas’s work, reflecting an extremely personal and psychological perspective, emphasizes
the scenic or concentrates on the detail. Thus, Degas’s painting is often discussed
with reference to the rise of short-exposure photography. Thematically,
nature proved less interesting to the artist than the life and inhabitants of the modern
metropolis. Degas primarily sought his motifs at the race track or circus, in bedrooms,
or in ballet salons—and dancers always remained his favorite theme.
After starting a career as a bank broker, Paul Gauguin turned to painting only at age
twenty-five. After initial successes within the Impressionist circle, he broke with
Vincent van Gogh and subsequently—when private difficulties caused him to become
restless—embarked on a peripatetic life, wandering first through Europe and finally,
in the search for pristine originality and unadulterated nature, to Tahiti.
The paintings created from this time to his death in 1903 brought him posthumous
fame. In pictures devoid of any attempt at romantically disguising the life style of the
primitive island peoples, Gauguin was able to convey the magical effect that both the
landscapes and life of the natives—their body language, charm and beauty—had on
him. Wearying of his reputation as a South Sea painter, Gauguin finally determined to
return to France, but died of syphilis on the Marquis Islands before his departure.
Degas
Bernd Growe
Hardcover, 9.4 x 11.8 in., 96 pp.
978-3-8365-4339-2
$ 14.99 / CAD 16.99
Gauguin
Ingo F. Walther
Hardcover, 9.4 x 11.8 in., 96 pp.
978-3-8365-4343-9
$ 14.99 / CAD 16.99
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