I have never liked the word "nude". It conjures up images of Kenneth Clark's magisterial tome on the subject and demure classical ladies standing in large seashells. Even worse, it reminds me of those German "health" magazines that were furtively passed around at boarding school.
So, I was a little skeptical about the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and the Musee d'Orsay in Paris calling their blockbuster exhibition of Degas' paintings and prints of the unclothed female form "Degas and the Nude".
In my mind, Degas was more associated with ballerinas, horses and the opera house than "the nude." However, after seeing this stunning exhibition a few weeks ago in Boston, I shall forever associate Monsieur Degas with an astounding array of unabashedly naked women.
"To hell with the nude," he seems to have said after all that rigorous classical training. "Let's paint bare naked ladies just as we see them". And here they are in all their glory—buxom bathers, brazen bawds, balancing ballerinas and, with much discreet charm, the blushing bourgeoises. Degas' naked women still have the power to surprise, charm, disturb or just plain confuse you. Come to think of it, isn't that what women.....but no, let's stick with the exhibition.
“Degas and the Nude” contains over 140 of Degas' works that focus on the female (and male) form. They are drawn from all stages of his 50-year working career. His nudes include oil paintings, pastels (my favorites), lithographs, pencil drawings, etchings, monotypes and sculptures from the collections of the two sponsoring museums and from other public and private collections around the world.
In addition to Degas' works, there are paintings by Ingres and Delacroix who greatly influenced Degas and other Impressionists; contemporaries such as Matisse, Renoir, Mary Cassatt (Degas' devoted friend) and Toulouse-Lautrec; and by later artists like Gaugin (who was much affected by Degas' naked forms) and Picasso. They provide a point of reference and remind us how other artists have approached "the nude". A painting by Renoir of a woman combing her richly cascading hair was breathtaking as was a painting by Gevrex (below) of "Rolla," a naked courtesan. The latter might have come straight out of a Playboy centre-fold. Plus ca change....?
He trained in the classical tradition at the stodgy Ecole des Beaux Arts and developed his craft by copying from the Renaissance painters in France and in Italy, where he drew from live models at Rome's French Academy. One pencil drawing of a young Italian boy was so beautiful in its total simplicity—perhaps because he took Ingres’ advice: “Draw lines, young man, and still more lines, both from life and from memory, and you will become a good artist." The boy is created entirely from sensual lines, no shading or light, and is perfect.
His approach to painting was described as "rigorous and academic" but he was "impatient with conventional poses and drawn to the real" (from "The Private Lives of the Impressionists" by Sue Roe, a wonderful book that I bought at the MFA).
The exhibition began with some of Degas' early nudes. Even though they were "classical" in tradition, they must have felt "modern" by the standards of the 1860s. The first work that struck me was "Young Spartans Exercising." A group of young Spartan boys is warily sizing up a group of girls on an open exercise field. The boys look bemused and uncertain. The girls seem to be challenging them to some game. The girls appear confident, taunting, challenging--even aggressive. Is that how women appeared to Degas?
A second picture from this early period was "Scene of War in the Middle Ages". It depicts a group of armored knights on horses leaving a scene (literally) of rape, pillage and arson. Dead, dying and ravished women are lying on the ground in various contorted poses. Some are fleeing, some are bent double and some are trying to fend off arrows with an outstretched arm. One poor soul is slung over a horse saddle, all buttocks and legs, and is being carried off.
It is really a shocking contrast to his earlier Spartan scene. Where are those wonderful, confident young women? How did Degas get from the open fields of Sparta to the killing fields of Europe? How did the naked strength of the Spartan girls morph into the alarming vulnerability of the village women whose nakedness stands in sharp contrast to the knights in full armor? No Lancelots or Galahads here!
I was surprised to find the earlier sketches and studies that Degas had carefully made of each woman in the "Scene of War". It showed how closely he had studied the lifeless bodies and how the bent limbs, outstretched arms and other extreme positions affected the body as a whole.
In a way, he was already focused on the female form and many of his later paintings also depict women in what appear to be contorted or uncomfortable positions—whether rising, crouching, bending or reaching. Degas never married and had an uneasy relationship with women--even with his models. Were the contortions somehow reflective of his own conflicted emotions on the subject of women?
“Scene of War” is a powerful comment on the evils visited upon women not just in the Middle Ages but in everyday "modern" life. A third picture he painted in his early career brought this point home. It is not a classical scene but deals with the same vulnerability of women and the unchecked power of men.
It shows a contemporary bedroom, in almost photographic detail, with a woman collapsed on the floor looking utterly defeated. Items of her clothing are scattered on the floor. A man, fully clothed, leans against the door looking at her with an air of contempt. He is threatening and almost predatory in his stance. While the scene is clear, the painting is full of ambiguity. What has happened? Who are they? Is Degas in pain or confusion--again? The painting was never made public and was found in Degas' studio only after his death.
The next part of the exhibition was the most surprising. The "early" works are followed by a series of drawings, sketches and monotypes that Degas based upon his many excursions to the brothels of Paris in the latter half of the 1870s. This was definitely not a side of Degas'work that was included in our school textbooks.
Degas doesn't seem to be making any judgments--he draws and paints exactly what he sees. He is an acute observer but not only of the ample bodies and features of the women. He also carefully depicts furniture, wallpaper, draperies, light fixtures and the overblown settings of these establishments which are frequented by the elite and powerful. Maybe Degas is making some judgment about the clientele? And men still seem to wield power. A suit has replaced armor and a fat wallet has replaced the swords.
As Degas entered the 1880s and 1890s his women grew in color, physicality and seemed to be bathed by some inner light. The above pastel is but one example. The pastels were by far the most enchanting of all Degas' works. Pastel is vivid, thick and expressive. You could almost feel the energy that Degas used to create these incredible works and the texture makes some forms seem almost “real”. It is almost as if he had found peace with his women. And, perhaps, seen that earlier Spartan strength in a more domestic and less threatening way.
At the end of the exhibition I could not believe that I had been there for two hours. I had to get home because I was supposed to be helping with Rocky. On the train home, I was reflecting on the plight of women today. Some things have changed but I think our “modern” world would still have the capacity to shock Degas. That ugly man is still leaning against the door. But at the same time, Degas lighted up my world that morning and his ravishing images will stay with me for a long time to come.
I can see how you were captivated for two hours - those are remarkable drawings, pastels and paintings. I love the very last one - the warm colors and light. I think maybe Degas was interested in the different ways that nudity can appear to an outsider and even to the nude individual. Nudity in his paintings is depicted as something beautiful, vulnerable, ugly, grotesque, taunting, powerful. Perhaps that was why he painted and drew nudes so often.
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