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December 2003
 Degas
and the Italians in Paris is the first exhibition to explore the connections
between the French Impressionist painter and a number of Italian artists
in Paris and opens at the RSA on 12 December.
The exhibition follows on from the record breaking Monet: The Seine and
The Sea, which heralded the opening on the refurbished building and state
of the art exhibition space this summer.
Degas and the Italians in Paris will feature around 90 works, including
oils, pastels, drawings, prints and sculptures, with nearly 50 works by
Degas himself and ten each by his Italian colleagues Giovanni Boldini,
Federico Zandomeneghi, Giuseppe de Nittis and Medardo Rosso.
Edgar Degas was undoubtedly the most intelligent and complex of all the
Impressionists, although he disliked the label Impressionist and preferred
to think of himself as a Realist.
Despite being a founder member of the Impressionist
group established in 1874, he tried to wrest control from the landscape
specialists like Monet and Pissarro in favour of artists who concentrated
on the human figure.
Despite being a founder member of the Impressionist group established
in 1874, he tried to wrest control from the landscape specialists like
Monet and Pissarro in favour of artists who concentrated on the human
figure.
Some of his greatest early portraits are of his Italian relations and
a number are included in the show such as the wonderful double portrait
of Edmondo and Therese Morbilli from the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.
The vast majority of Degas' career however was spent in Paris where he
became renowned for his subtle portraits, his intimate pastels of women
washing and drying themselves, his striking nudes, his highly original
depictions of fashionable horse racing and his extraordinary landscape
prints.
All of these aspects of his work are amply illustrated in Degas and the
Italians in Paris, which also serves as an introduction to the work of
Boldini, Zandomeneghi, De Nittis and Rosso. The exhibition runs until
29 February 2004.
Information on opening hours and tickets is on
the website www.nationalgalleries.org
Pic: A Group of Dancers c.1898 (Degas)
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