Edgar Degas (Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists)

Rating:
Summary: Edgar Degas as the least impressionistic Impressionist
Review: One of the most interesting things about Mike Venezia's look at Edgar Degas is how much we learn about the world of art at the time Degas was painting. In the middle of this volume there is a nice distinction between the Neoclassical art of painters like Jacques Louis David with the Romantic artists like Eugene Delacroix. Then we get a concise look at the Impressionists and while Degas was considered a leader of the movement it is clear that his work was decidedly different from Claude Monet, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Camille Pissarro, and the rest. Then there is the work Degas did with photography as a way of rethinking composition and his work with prints, the latter done with Mary Cassatt. My favorite volumes in the Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists series have been those that have given me insights into the work of a particular artist. This look at Degas does not exactly do that, but it has furthered by art appreciation endeavor, which would be a good thing. There are reproductions of 20 of the artist's works in this book as well as representative ones of key contemporaries. Contextualization is one of Venezia's strengths, even more so than the cartoons for which he is probably best known. As intended, this is a fun series that manages to work in some educational type stuff along the way..

Rating:
Summary: Edgar Degas as the least impressionistic Impressionist
Review: One of the most interesting things about Mike Venezia's look at Edgar Degas is how much we learn about the world of art at the time Degas was painting. In the middle of this volume there is a nice distinction between the Neoclassical art of painters like Jacques Louis David with the Romantic artists like Eugene Delacroix. Then we get a concise look at the Impressionists and while Degas was considered a leader of the movement it is clear that his work was decidedly different from Claude Monet, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Camille Pissarro, and the rest. Then there is the work Degas did with photography as a way of rethinking composition and his work with prints, the latter done with Mary Cassatt. My favorite volumes in the Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists series have been those that have given me insights into the work of a particular artist. This look at Degas does not exactly do that, but it has furthered by art appreciation endeavor, which would be a good thing. There are reproductions of 20 of the artist's works in this book as well as representative ones of key contemporaries. Contextualization is one of Venezia's strengths, even more so than the cartoons for which he is probably best known. As intended, this is a fun series that manages to work in some educational type stuff along the way..