Art + Fashion...
5:12 p.m.
18/02/16 - Edgar Degas (France, 1834-1917) was an artist focused on capturing the moment, that unique instant in which horses start a race or a dancer waits to go on stage. He wanted to place us, viewers, in a privileged position to witness what's happening. With this aim he depicted dancers, alone or in groups, resting or bowing. We can sense the intimacy of the moment, the sensitivity perceived by the observers.
Inspired by this paintings, the editors of Harper's Bazaar asked the ballet dancer Mitsy Copeland to channel Degas' dancers using designer dresses.
In "The Star" and "Dancer in Green", Degas uses a perspective from a higher standpoint, to enhance the intimacy of the scene, focusing in one particular figure.
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1. The Star, by Edgar Degas (c.1878)
Technique: pastel - Musée d'Orsay, París
2. Dress: Valentino 2016
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3. Dancer in Green, by Edgar Degas (1879)
Technique: pastel on paper / Measures: 66 x 36 cm
Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Madrid
4. Dress: Oscar de la Renta 2016
Degas became interested in ballet around 1870 and visited frequently the Ópera de París on rue Le Peletier. In 1880, he began working with pastels, using a less natural palette, with electric blues, yellows, oranges and reds, which gave depths to the colouring. The scenes with the dancers are more intimate, registering them during classes, rehearsals or in their dressing rooms.
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5. Dancer, by Edgar Degas (ca. 1880)
Technique: Pastel and charcoal on blue paper - MET Museum, NY
6. Dress: Carolina Herrera 2016
These works began by 1860 and went on till two years before his death, in 1917. Their modernity in unquestionable, as also their extreme sensitivity. In the words of Misty Copeland, the dancer of the fashion shoot: "It was amazing just to notice all of the small details but
also how he still allows you to feel like there's movement".
Keep reading: Commentary on "Deux danseuses jaunes et roses (Amarillo y rosa)", by C. Turolla & M. Núñez Santacruz.
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