Degas - An impression of a revolution
Impressionism is Australia’s favourite art form, exhibitions featuring works by leading exponents Monet, Renoir, Pissaro are some of the most well attended exhibitions across the nation. Currently at the National Gallery of Australia (NGA), Degas: Master of French Art is looking to become a blockbuster. Since it opened on December 12, ticket sales have averaged 1200 a day, more than twice the target set by the NGA.
Why is Impressionism so popular? What is it about this art form that it can garner such dedication and commitment from the public? Partly it has to do with access, with very few Impressionist works in the collection of our great institutions, the opportunity to see these works means we flock to see these exhibitions, but mostly it is that Impressionism is an art form that more than any other, is enjoyed for its aesthetic qualities over its subject matter. Edgar Degas' beautiful depictions of 19th-century Parisian ballerinas are the kind of pictures that people just love to love. Pretty, inoffensive and positive, his works typify the perception of Impressionist Art.
So in the end what have we really lost, what damage has been done if all we see when we look at Degas or Monet are pretty girls and flowers?
Behind the conscious "prettiness" of Degas' ballerinas there is a latent sexuality that many galleries found confronting in 19th-century Paris, leading to some refusing to show his work. All the Impressionists had some trouble exhibiting, their work scorned by critics as unfinished and vulgar. Over the years and after the shocks of postmodernism, the radical nature of Impressionist art had been lost.
If we fail to recognise this radical aspect of Impressionism and the path that it forged, then we miss out on the opportunity to ever really understand Modern Art. The achievement of Degas and his colleagues was that they broke a tradition of western composition, with its careful, predictable, flawless presentation of reality; they created a new vision of reality that was shifting, disorderly, and often frantic but ultimately truthful.
For your opportunity to experience Degas, in the first exhibition of his work to be shown in Australia, be sure to join the Friends of Western Plains Cultural Centre Inc who are hosting a once in a life time bus tour to visit the exhibition in Canberra on the 20 to 22 February 2009. Combined with tours of the brand new National Portrait Gallery and the renowned Canberra Glassworks studio, the tour also includes an exclusive afterhour’s dinner at Old Parliament House.
Included in the $345.00 price ($330.00 for Friends of WPCC) is accommodation, transport and entry to all exhibitions and dinner at Old Parliament House. To book your seat or for more information please contact Chris Smyth on 02 6884 1179.
This post originally appeared in the Daily Liberal on 24th January 2009.
Why is Impressionism so popular? What is it about this art form that it can garner such dedication and commitment from the public? Partly it has to do with access, with very few Impressionist works in the collection of our great institutions, the opportunity to see these works means we flock to see these exhibitions, but mostly it is that Impressionism is an art form that more than any other, is enjoyed for its aesthetic qualities over its subject matter. Edgar Degas' beautiful depictions of 19th-century Parisian ballerinas are the kind of pictures that people just love to love. Pretty, inoffensive and positive, his works typify the perception of Impressionist Art.
So in the end what have we really lost, what damage has been done if all we see when we look at Degas or Monet are pretty girls and flowers?
Behind the conscious "prettiness" of Degas' ballerinas there is a latent sexuality that many galleries found confronting in 19th-century Paris, leading to some refusing to show his work. All the Impressionists had some trouble exhibiting, their work scorned by critics as unfinished and vulgar. Over the years and after the shocks of postmodernism, the radical nature of Impressionist art had been lost.
If we fail to recognise this radical aspect of Impressionism and the path that it forged, then we miss out on the opportunity to ever really understand Modern Art. The achievement of Degas and his colleagues was that they broke a tradition of western composition, with its careful, predictable, flawless presentation of reality; they created a new vision of reality that was shifting, disorderly, and often frantic but ultimately truthful.
For your opportunity to experience Degas, in the first exhibition of his work to be shown in Australia, be sure to join the Friends of Western Plains Cultural Centre Inc who are hosting a once in a life time bus tour to visit the exhibition in Canberra on the 20 to 22 February 2009. Combined with tours of the brand new National Portrait Gallery and the renowned Canberra Glassworks studio, the tour also includes an exclusive afterhour’s dinner at Old Parliament House.
Included in the $345.00 price ($330.00 for Friends of WPCC) is accommodation, transport and entry to all exhibitions and dinner at Old Parliament House. To book your seat or for more information please contact Chris Smyth on 02 6884 1179.
This post originally appeared in the Daily Liberal on 24th January 2009.
posted by WORD OF MOUTH: WPCC BLOG @ 13:45
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