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National Gallery of Australia presents First Ever Edgar Degas Exhibition in Australia

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Saturday, 13 December 2008 00:50

Edgar Degas, France 1834–1917 - The dance class c. 1873 - Oil on canvas, 47.6 x 62.2 cm. - The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC - William A Clark Collection, 1926 

CANBERRA, AU - Australia’s first ever exhibition of works by French artist Edgar Degas (1834–1917) opens at the National Gallery of Australia. It will be shown only in Canberra. Degas: master of French art has been developed by the National Gallery of Australia, which has selected the works, negotiated the loans and researched and published the exhibition book. The exhibition includes more than 120 paintings, drawings, sculptures, monotypes, prints, and photographs drawn from 45 collections from all over the world. On exhibition 12 December through 22 March, 2009.

Degas was an innovator in depicting images of everyday life in Paris. Many of the works exhibited focus on Degas’ favourite subject matter—the ballet, behind-the-scenes views at the opera, the racetrack, the café-concerts, laundresses and women bathing, as well as brothels.

Degas: master of French art has brought together some of the finest examples of Degas’ talent and evolution as an artist. It is the culmination of almost three years work by one of the National Gallery of Australia’s senior curators of international art, Jane Kinsman. It seeks to examine how the artist successfully absorbed the rich lessons of the old masters and applied these in his modern-day subjects, leading him to his own singular style.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec La Clownesse assise: Mademoiselle Cha-u-ka-o 1896 colour lithograph National Gallery of AustraliaAlso . . Degas’ World - 24 January – 3 May 2009 | Orde Poynton Gallery

Degas’ World, an exhibition of European prints from the National Gallery of Australia’s collection, opens in association with the major exhibition Degas: Master of French art.

It includes prints by Degas’ contemporaries: Pierre Bonnard, Mary Cassat, Paul Cézanne, Honoré Daumier, Henri Fantin-Latour, Paul Gauguin, Édouard Manet, Berthe Morisot, Camille Pissarro, Alfred Sisley, Henri Toulouse-Lautrec and many others. These artists, including Degas, altered the direction of art at the end of the nineteenth century, moving away from the tradition of the Paris Salon towards art that was revolutionary, independent and modern.

The collection of Australian art in the National Gallery of Australia incorporates art made in Australia or about Australian subjects since European settlement in 1788, with the greatest strength in the 20th century. Australian art also includes the art of Australia's Indigenous people. This collection is discussed separately under Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art. The collection encompasses paintings and sculpture, prints and drawings, photographs, the decorative arts, sketchbooks, posters and installation art.

Visit National Gallery of Australia at : http://nga.gov.au/exhibitions/DEFAULT.cfm