NGA extends Degas until OT 12

Edgar Degas (1834-1917), The Orchestra of the Opéra, 1870, oil on canvas, Musée d'Orsay, Paris. This was Degas's "first public success following multiple setbacks at the Salon," according to the catalog. Désiré Dihau, the bassoonist, commissioned Degas to make his portrait, which Dihau's sister, Marie, later inherited and loaned to the first Degas retrospective in Paris in 1924.With her own Degas portrait (Mademoiselle at the Piano, 1870), the two works "caused a sensation." Members of the orchestra were painters and friends of the artist.

Edgar Degas (1834-1917), Dancer with a Bouquet Curtseying on Stage, 1878, pastel on wove paper mounted on canvas, Musée d'Orsay, Paris. Bequest of Isaac de Camondo. NGA's audio of this work concentrates on Degas's components of the composition rather than the content and characters.

Edgar Degas (1834-1917), Dance Examination, 1880, pastel on paper, Lent by the Denver Art Museum. The audio explains that the young dancers are preparing for one of two dance examination held yearly, one test based on skills, and the other, self promotion. The second older woman upper right is hard to make out, but the two women are likely the mothers who help their daughters tighten laces, pull up tights, and make sure they don't have baggy knees!  "The bane of every dancer's existence!" exclaims a dancer on the audio.

 Edgar Degas (1834-1917), Portrait of Friends, on the Stage (also known as Portrait of Ludovic Halevy and Albert Boulanger-Cave), 1879, pastel on paper, Musee d'Orsay, Paris. Gift of Florence Nouffland. Halevy, on the left, was an author and playwright, chatting here with his friend, both wearing the red Legion of Honor ribbon and dressed in the manner of wealthy gentlemen of the day. Listen to the audio.

Edgar Degas (1834-1917), Pauline and Virginie Conversing with Admirers, 1876-77, black ink on India paper, Fogg Museum, Cambridge, MA. Bequest of Meta and Paul J. Sachs. The audio 

notes the subscribers (Degas later became one) stand and leer, with the hands behind their backs, ready to pounce. Like rats, subscribers had their run of the place and preyed on the young, vulnerable dancers who usually came from poor families and needed the work...and money. This work was not made public until after Degas died. 

Edgar Degas (1834-1917), The Ballet Rehearsal on Stage, 1874, oil on canvas, Musee d'Orsay, Paris. Bequest of Isaac de Camondo.  Right center is a watchful "subscriber."

Edgar Degas (1834-1917), The Ballet from "Robert le Diable," 1871-1872, oil on canvas, lent by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Bequest of Mrs. H.O. Havemeyer.  Dancing nuns fill the top half of this, balanced by the orchestra on the bottom and a member of the audience who uses his opera glasses to search for someone in the audience. 

The audio for Robert le Diable is wonderful with quotes from NGA Director Kaywin Feldman, Kimberly Jones, the curator, and Julie Kent, artistic director of the Washington Ballet.  After hearing them, I yearn to see this again in person and if that is not possible, who will play the opera next? It's about Robert, the son of the devil, lured to the "dark side" by nuns who rise from the dead in a ghostly dance. Ms. Kent says dancers on stage experience the wonder and thrill of the orchestra coming into the body.  Dancers "definitely respond to the orchestra.  It's the most beautiful thing." Degas rarely painted scenes from operas.

Edgar Degas (1834-1917), Portrait of Eugénie Fiocre a propos of the Ballet “La Source,” 1867–1868, oil on canvas, Brooklyn Museum. Gift of James H. Post, A. Augustus Healy, and John T. Underwood. The audio reveals this scene is a rehearsal of the ballet which featured a live horse, a real waterfall, rocks, and plants! The two tiny pink ballet shoes between the horse's legs show the connection to dancing.  The famous dancer, Eugenie Fiocre, occupies the center piece in blue, and the audio claims the two other women are "handmaidens," but they look like Ms. Fiocre: three renditions of the same person, one on the right, as she rubs her feet, tired from dancing, and the other, at far left, whose mind escapes the stage for another world. Ms. Feldman calls this work "a very weird hybrid," an understatement. I'd say it's 100+years ahead of its time, an anomaly juxtaposed with nature, performance, and dreamlike imagery.  It was Degas's first work of dance.

 Edgar Degas (1834-1917), Blue Dancers, 1893-1896, oil on canvas, Musee d'Orsay, Paris. Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Alpert Charpentier. An art blog says this is the only time Degas used cool colors to depict a ballerina, one here in motion, shown in different poses.  Arthive says Degas made this as his eyesight was failing, and he gave up painting completely in 1904 and turned to sculpture by touch. (The catalog index is so hard to use, I cannot find references to this there, other than the color illustration.)

 Edgar Degas (1834-1917), The Little Dancer Aged Fourteen (with admirer), 1878-1881, National Gallery of Art.  Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon /Photo by Patricia Leslie 

One of the most famous sculptures in the world modeled after "Marie" who was expelled from her dance school after missing too many classes, according to the audio. When The Little Dancer first made it to the art stage, she was called "depraved" "bestial," and the model, "most frightfully hideous" among other descriptions. (Also, "disturbing," "intimidating," "ugly," a sculpture which "Countess Louise" said "attracted a crowd of fools.") Degas was also criticized because he left the dancer in a "cage," or "jar," just like an animal. No doubt, she was unhappy!

The sculptor eschewed marble for actual hair held with a ribbon, real ballet slippers, and a tutu, possibly "intended for ignorant or gullible people" another critic moans in the catalog. 

Read more about her there which also calls this "Degas's crowning achievement in sculpture" which was "the only[Degas] sculpture exhibited in his lifetime" and "a work of art that was simply too real for most of his contemporaries." The "great scandal" The Little Dancer caused "deterred Degas from ever exhibiting his sculptures again," Julia Fiore wrote for Artsy in 2018. (Is there a "Friends of The Little Dancer"? ) 

At the National Gallery of Art with The Little Dancer, Aged Fourteen by Edgar Degas/Photo by Patricia Leslie

It is with sincere regret that I come to reveal all the news I have been able to find about Degas at the Opéra at the National Gallery of Art, an exhibition which is set to close July 5 (Update!  Now, October 12!), before the Gallery opens again, which means most who want to see it will not. (But now you can!)

I come before you to share some of the paintings I liked the most at this huge show, and you may see more at the website, or by listening to the audio presentations for 21 of the works, and/or see them in the catalog* (or now! This just in: At the National Gallery of Art!)

Alas!  The exhibition was only open a few days after March 1 before coronavirus closed Gallery doors.


Waltzing (sorry, I could not resist) through the galleries of many (about 100!) paintings, prints, monographs and more, I was practically lifted backstage to join the dancers while they rehearsed, tightened up, chatted and were the objects of desire of nearby men in black.

Those creatures Degas often portrayed in half figures lurking, lurking, lurking, omnipresent in side scenes with the ballerinas poised to dance and move. (See the explanation in Ms. Fiore's article, one of several which claimed that wealthy men turned the Paris Opera into a brothel.)

Degas's works of dancers in paintings, monotypes, and drawings number more than 1,500, and at times, they seemed to all be present, so large is the show spread over eight galleries. 

Dancer after dancer appear in costume bending, swirling, adjusting a costume, but if any face the viewer, I could not find her. Maybe she avoided eye contact to escape invitations from the male figures in formal wear, black, top hats, voyeurs. What was Degas trying to tell the viewer? That he was an historian of the art of ballet, painting what he saw behind the scenes.

The Washington Post quotes Director Feldman  that the West Building will open in mid-July for timed entry for only 500.  (Update:  NGA will open July 20 for half-hour timed passes. See update below and how to obtain entry. The East Building will remain closed for renovation, and the Sculpture Garden is open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily.) 

Please, National Gallery of Art:  Extend this show!  (Update:  Prayers answered!  Show extended!  Thank you, NGA, sponsors, lenders, and all who made this happen. Please read below on *timed-entry passes.)

Gallery friends and fans are indebted to BP America, Adrienne Arsht, Jacqueline B. Mars, the Exhibition Circle of the National Gallery of Art, and an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities for making the exhibition possible.

What:  Degas at the Opéra

When:  Now through October 12, 2020; open daily with timed-entry passes* 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. 

Where:  National Gallery of Art, West Building, Washington, D.C.

*To request a timed entry pass (face covering and SD required): Call (202) 842-6997 between 11:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. or email tickets@nga.gov.

Admission charge:  None

Metro stations for the National Gallery of Art:
Smithsonian, Federal Triangle, Navy Memorial-Archives, or L'Enfant Plaza

For more information:  202-737-4215

*Catalog:  Degas at the Opéra, 320 pages, 300 color illustrations, $49.95 

patricialesli@gmail.com

'Degas/Cassett,' the tape, and more at the National Gallery of Art

Mary Cassatt, Little Girl in a Blue Armchair, 1878, National Gallery of Art, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon

Two impressionists, Mary Cassatt (1844-1926) and Edgar Degas (1834-1917) are linked artistically but not romantically no matter how much a romanticist might wish it otherwise, no matter what the wall label copy and catalog at the National Gallery of Art's show, Degas/Cassatt,
say to remind readers that their relationship was only professional; they were not "a couple" and, indeed, "drifted apart" in later years. Neither ever married, but they owned more of each other's works than they owned of any other contemporary artist's. 

Sadly, it all comes to an end this weekend (I want them all to remain forevermore, at least through my life, selfish beast that I am; can they go to the new Corcoran?) when Degas/Cassatt, the story of their professional relationship exits the world's stage.

Washington is the only venue for this magnificent display.(However and in a nearby gallery comes Degas's sculpture, Little Dancer Aged Fourteen who springs to life with some of her dancing buddies, the ones painted by Degas, which opens on the day of departure for Degas/Cassatt, October 5.  Cassatt thought Degas's future might be more fruitful in sculpture than in painting.)

A classy and free color brochure at Degas/Cassatt describes the painters' styles:  They painted the human body, clothed and unclothed, avoiding landscape portraiture. Degas rejected the label, "impressionist," preferring to be called a "realist" which also defines Cassatt's work. They both were highly educated and from well-to-do families.

For only $5, one may rent a tape to hear while you stroll (or elbow, depending upon the crowd's numbers which I believe will be pretty hefty this weekend) through the 70 or so works, guided by professionals who provide background for about 13 of the pieces in the show.

Edgar Degas, Mary Cassatt, c. 1879-1884, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Gift of the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation and the Regents' Major Acquisition Fund

 The tape's talk time is about 35 minutes, but I listened for much longer than that, hearing some portions more than once, like the description of Degas's Mary Cassatt, c. 1879-1884. Can you blame her for wanting to get rid of this? What woman (or man) wants to look worse that she looks?

There she sits leaning in a chair, a woman in her mid to late 30s but looking much older, like she's going to fall out of the seat upon the floor. She is hunched with a grim expression, wearing black as if in mourning for...? What might have been?

The tape describes her as manly and gaunt, but I beg to differ. She seems pensive, a trifle irritated, bent in an unusual pose and sitting for what may have been long periods of time to satisfy the artist. She could have been doing something else: "What am I doing here? And why am I doing it?" No wonder she tried to unload the painting later without his knowledge. She called it "painful." Mary, you were right!

Edgar Degas, Mary Cassatt at the Louvre, c. 1879, Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Henry P. McIlhenny Collection in memory of Frances P. McIlhenny, 1986

The most fascinating part of the show to me is the gallery where it hangs, the one devoted to Degas's images of Cassatt as she toured the Musee de Louvre. The many and varied sexy silhouettes he drew of her give a viewer pause. The works are each distinctly different, most, drawn of her back side while she strolled through the galleries. For a single woman of her age, there were not many public places acceptable for her to venture out unaccompanied, like culture finds women sheltered today in certain Middle Eastern countries.

Perhaps Degas wanted more from Mary Cassatt than collegial exchange.

Mary Cassatt, The Loge, c. 1878-1880, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Chester Dale Collection

 

For The Loge, the tape says the young women at the theater seized an opportunity to mix with gentlemen and show off their beauty. They are dressed for the occasion and sit like dolls, almost expressionless but glum, displayed on a shelf for the men to ogle.   Since it was a husband's duty to provide the goods, no jewelry is worn except the artist, Cassatt, has placed on the neck of one,  a black choker.  What do you make of it? A symbol of a prison confinement that marriage can become? Like the black bars of prison which lock in an inmate and can strangle.  Contrast it with the pastels in the work.   About 150 years ago it is doubtful criticism of marriage as an institution was often heard, but now more Americans are unmarried than married. Mary Cassatt believed marriage would restrict her career.

On the other hand, could the choker symbolize the confinement the women have experienced growing up? Marriage will set them free?  Based upon their expressions, the future does not look so bright for these women. Maybe, the pickings are not to their liking.  Is this all there is? 

It seems likely that an academician has written about Cassatt's gender renderings.  Doesn't The Black Choker sound like the enticing name of a novel?  It reminds me of Girl with a Pearl Earring, Vermeer's painting which evolved into a book which became a movie which became a play.  I wish someone would query the experts and ask their explanations of the Black Choker. 

In the meantime, calling for a script.  I can't wait to read it. 

Edgar Degas, Scene from the Steeplechase: The Fallen Jockey, 1866, reworked 1880-1881 and c. 1897, National Gallery of Art, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon

When you enter the exhibition, at the far end on the wall facing you is a large painting, Degas's Scene from the Steeplechase: The Fallen Jockey, which seems oddly out of place, juxtaposed between two Cassatt paintings of females reaching. (Reaching for what?) 

Cassatt wanted to buy The Fallen Jockey for her brother, a horse lover, but Degas refused to sell it, saying he needed to rework it, and over the next 30 years, on and off, he did. After his death, it was found in his studio.

 

Without the tape would I have paid much attention to the brown and muddy flooring of Cassatt's Little Girl in a Blue Armchair (which a thorough analysis revealed later Degas extensively reworked)? The weirdly spaced furniture stands on opposite side of the "shore" where a sleepy little girl sprawls in an illuminated chair lost in thought, perhaps contemplating her future, dogged (!) by what the painter knew lay ahead.  She appears about eight years old, but her image suggests someone older, experienced and wondering, what if?     
 
You see what art can do!  There is much more than what you see.

Little Girl in a Blue Armchair is on the cover of the "must have" 160-paged catalogue available in the shops.

What: Degas/Cassatt

When: Now through Sunday, October 5, 2014 from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. - 6 p.m. Sunday

Where: Main Floor, West Building, National Gallery of Art, between Third and Ninth streets at Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. On the Mall.

Admission: No charge

Metro stations: Smithsonian, Federal Triangle, Navy Memorial-Archives, or L'Enfant Plaza

For more information: 202-737-4215

patricialesli@gmail.com