Edward Degas

Edward Degas is a well known traditional French painter and sculptor. Went to school for literature and began studying law but never finished due to his interest in drawing and painting. He is mostly know for his ballerina paintings that are in a distinct style and in an impressionistic manner.
I love Degas' work. I love that he just paints what he sees and just studies the same thing until his hearts content. I think the style a color in which he paints is very distinctive to him and its easy to pick out his paintings among many.
This is one of my favorite paints by Degas. I like that it's simple and there is nothing grand or glamorous going on, it's just a dance rehearsal and practice. The windows allow for light which makes the dancers glow in their white dresses. It seems like you are sitting just right there on the dance floor just watching whats going on it does seem to impose on the painting. I also like that there are parts that are cut off in the picture, I feel like it add the illusion of realism in the painting seeing as when we look at things in real life there are often things that are cut off by vision.

This is one of Degas more well know sculptures. The dress is hand made of fabric and I believe that the sculpture is bronze or some other kind of metal. I'm not fond of the texture of the skin, it looks rough and wrinkling to me. The dancer is obviously a young girl and i think the skin should be smoother than what is portray, though time and it's age might have altered the texture. I do like the contrast between the material of the dress and the metal I feel like it just solidifies the figure as a timeless piece.










Source:
http://www.edgar-degas.org/biography.html
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_AVg5BeM5Mmc/TCXM656hkcI/AAAAAAAAAQY/vswYyj1n4dA/s320/degas.jpg
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/images/h2/h2_29.100.370.jpg