Book Description

Following a rigorous academic training as a young man, Edgar Degas (1834–1917) brought the traditional methods of a classical history painter to bear on the life and society of his own day in works treating a range of subjects, prominently including the world of dance. This engaging volume brings together intimate portraits of the artist by two of his earliest and most important champions. The Irish writer George Moore (1852–1933) and the German-born English painter Walter Sickert (1860–1942) belonged to a network of British and French writers and artists; through this circle they became friends with Degas, whose Paris haunts and studios they both frequented. Long difficult to find in print, their groundbreaking accounts represent some of the most vivid responses to Impressionism in English and offer fascinating insight into the life and personality of one of the late nineteenth century’s most important painters. An introduction by the art historian Anna Gruetzner Robins situates their memoirs, which are supplemented here by vivid color illustrations and historical photographs, in the context of their time.