This book is a pretty detailed biography of Degas, one of the founders and/or inspirations for the Impressionist movement in France, and a number of full color reproductions of his work. He, like Remington among my recent art reading, did not live a life of penury. Instead, he was pretty comfortably comported with a banker father (who proved to be less successful than thought). Degas travelled abroad and studied art and achieved enough success that he could exhibit with the Impressionists at no real risk to himself. Apparently, showing with that riff raff instead of at the Salon was quite a statement.
At any rate, Degas’s work with the human form falls into my wheelhouse of Impressionist appreciation. As you might recollect, I prefer Impressionism to include human figures instead of just landscape. Degas also worked with sculpture and wrote sonnets, so what’s not to like about the guy?
