The Dance Class by Degas
I am going to analyse the Degas painting The Dance Class using the sites of production and circulation combined with the social modality (Rose, p.25). The painting, as typical of Degas during this period, depicts a behind the scenes/rehearsal scene. By investigating the movement of this painting from its commissioning to the current day I will go behind the scenes of the image itself.
John-Baptiste Faure, a celebrated French operatic baritone, commissioned the artwork. He, as an opera singer and therefore emanating from the elitist and traditionalist world of culture at that time, was an anomaly in his support for Impressionist artists (his important collection included works by Manet, Monet, Sisley, Pissarro, Ingres and Prud'hon). A previously abandoned and slightly different version of the work exists known as The Ballet Class. The change from 'ballet' to 'dance' for me also reflects the changing attitudes of the Impressionists away from tradition/elitism (ballet) and towards the future (more generic 'dance'). Additional support for this theory is in the location that the painting is set - the burnt down Paris Opera House. Whether Faure requested this or not is unknown but is perhaps more likely a comment by Degas on the Salon. Degas and the other impressionists had already grown tired of their works not being approved for show at the traditionalist Salon exhibition and had set up their own independent exhibitions (known as the Impressionist Exhibitions) starting in the year The Dance Class was completed. Following the settlement of his brother's debts and dependent for the first time in his life on sales of his artwork for income, Degas produced much of his greatest work during the decade beginning in 1874. (Guillaud and Guillaud, p.33) Who decided on the inclusion of Degas's ballet master friend Jules Perrot in the image would also elucidate who the driving force behind the pro-impressionist/anti-traditionalist message was more: Degas or Faure.
Following its non-showing at the Salon, showing at the Impressionist exhibitions and then on to its current resting place at the Met the painting has been excluded, been at the forefront of the avant-garde and then finally accepted into the world it was initially rejected from. Today the work is also shown to the public via the internet. A google image search will quickly allow viewing along with other algorithm generated Degas paintings and photos of modern dance classes in action. The painting may lose some of its 'aura' (Rose, p.37) via its reproductive viewing but gains the increased audience the impressionists, if not Degas, craved. Conservative in his social attitudes, he abhorred the scandal created by the exhibitions, as well as the publicity and advertising that his colleagues sought. (Gordon and Forge, p.31)
John-Baptiste Faure, a celebrated French operatic baritone, commissioned the artwork. He, as an opera singer and therefore emanating from the elitist and traditionalist world of culture at that time, was an anomaly in his support for Impressionist artists (his important collection included works by Manet, Monet, Sisley, Pissarro, Ingres and Prud'hon). A previously abandoned and slightly different version of the work exists known as The Ballet Class. The change from 'ballet' to 'dance' for me also reflects the changing attitudes of the Impressionists away from tradition/elitism (ballet) and towards the future (more generic 'dance'). Additional support for this theory is in the location that the painting is set - the burnt down Paris Opera House. Whether Faure requested this or not is unknown but is perhaps more likely a comment by Degas on the Salon. Degas and the other impressionists had already grown tired of their works not being approved for show at the traditionalist Salon exhibition and had set up their own independent exhibitions (known as the Impressionist Exhibitions) starting in the year The Dance Class was completed. Following the settlement of his brother's debts and dependent for the first time in his life on sales of his artwork for income, Degas produced much of his greatest work during the decade beginning in 1874. (Guillaud and Guillaud, p.33) Who decided on the inclusion of Degas's ballet master friend Jules Perrot in the image would also elucidate who the driving force behind the pro-impressionist/anti-traditionalist message was more: Degas or Faure.
Following its non-showing at the Salon, showing at the Impressionist exhibitions and then on to its current resting place at the Met the painting has been excluded, been at the forefront of the avant-garde and then finally accepted into the world it was initially rejected from. Today the work is also shown to the public via the internet. A google image search will quickly allow viewing along with other algorithm generated Degas paintings and photos of modern dance classes in action. The painting may lose some of its 'aura' (Rose, p.37) via its reproductive viewing but gains the increased audience the impressionists, if not Degas, craved. Conservative in his social attitudes, he abhorred the scandal created by the exhibitions, as well as the publicity and advertising that his colleagues sought. (Gordon and Forge, p.31)
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