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Degas’ Sculptures exquisite |
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Written by MELISSA E. KOSS
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Monday, 02 May 2005 |
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Milwaukee is the first Midwest stop for Edgar Degas‚ 73 bronze sculptures on loan from the Museu de Arte de São Paulo, Brazil. Roughly 20 of Degas' paintings and sketches accompany the sculptures, providing necessary background for his inspiration.
The exhibit, which runs until June 5, is divided into three main categories: horses, bathers and dancers.
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Degas Sculptures
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Milwaukee Art Museum
700 North Art Museum Drive
Milwaukee, WI 53202
(414) 224-3220
www.mama.org
Through June 5
Tickets: $12 adults, $10 seniors, $8 students, children 12 and under free. Ticket includes general admission. Tickets are sold on-site for same-day visits only.
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The horses are an obvious study of movement. As an impressionist painter, Degas began by exploring the effect light has on objects and people' as seen in his “Dancer on the Stage,” a piece accompanying the sculptures. However, following Eadweard Muybridge's publication of photographs of horses in movement, Degas worked the movement of muscle into his paintings and sculptures. Walking through the exhibit, it is easy to see Degas‚ progression in working three-dimensionally: his sculptures, especially of the horses, become more concrete and realistic due to Muybridge's work.
The bathers are a lovely scene. Degas examined and sculpted women bathing in the public bath houses in France. Most of the poses required the model to stretch in some way: to scrub her back, to clean the bottom of her foot, to dry her back with a towel. What I enjoy most about these women, especially as depicted in "The Tub," is the naturalistic representation of women. I have always enjoyed when women‚s figures look the way a normal woman‚s figure looks, and not like an airbrushed super model. For the most part, Degas' bathers and dancers have rounded figures, not rock-hard abs.
Equally lovely are the dancers. Degas liked to paint ballet dancers, and he liked to sculpt them just as much. The headliner of the show is a Little Dancer, Aged Fourteen, which was the only sculpture (then in its original wax form before cast in bronze) displayed during Degas' lifetime. The reaction from the critics of the day was that it was rubbish, disgusting, a perverse display of a youth. The sculpture combines the bronze sculpture with a real tutu and a satin ribbon tied around her braid. The originally displayed Little Dancer also wore real toe shoes.
What makes the Degas exhibit such a rarity is that there are only four castings of Degas' sculptures in existence, and this is the first time they have been on display in the Midwest. (The Musee d’Orsay in Paris doesn’t even have a complete set of the bronzes!) Additionally, in my mind, Degas' sculptures represent the pivot point of artwork, and they are exquisite. Powered by AkoComment 2.0! |
