Two French Artists Paint Dancers
Degas and Toulouse-Lautrec Created Artworks of Ballet and the Cancan
Henri Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901) and Edgar Degas (1834-1917) were both French artists who created works that featured dancers as subject matter. While both sometimes shared a similar subject matter, the nature of their paintings and subject matter differs greatly.
Degas was born to a wealthy French family who hoped he would practice law. Instead, Degas was bit by the art bug early, and studied his craft by copying old masters paintings in the Louvre in Paris. His paintings, sculptures, prints and drawings are known for their academic faithfulness to anatomy and realism, and for his innovative compositions.
One of Degas most famous works is a sculpture of a young ballet dancer entitled, Little Dancer of Fourteen Years. This sculpture caused quite a stir when it was first shown. Critics considered it unattractive and perhaps too realistic to see this somewhat ungainly girl posed so gracefully with eyes closed, looking inward. In addition to the bronze body, she has a real skirt or tutu, along with a matching bow holding back her braided hair. She stands contrappasto with feet loosely in the Fourth Position as a powerful portrait of a girl in transition, on the edge of womanhood.
Toulouse-Lautrec was born to an aristocratic family that also suffered the ill effects of inbreeding. He broke both of his thighbones as a young adolescent, which caused his legs to cease growing. While Henri was not a genetic dwarf, he was only 5-feet tall with child-length legs and a normal-sized torso and arms.
Henri lived amongst the prostitutes in the Parisian district of Montmartre and frequented both the brothels and the theatre. One of his most famous works is a poster he created for the Moulin Rouge that featured a dancer named La Goulue (The Greedy One), who was the inventor of the cancan, a raucous and sexy dance performed with high kicks and loud cries, meant to punctuate and entice. While quite tame by today’s standards, this poster caused an overnight sensation in Paris that caused the poster to be sold out.
While the type of dancers painted by these two artists differed, they have more in common than not. Degas and Toulouse-Lautrec were interested in capturing movement and knew the importance of line in their work. Both artists are sensitive to their subject matter and portray dancers with much affection and care, but with an eye towards realism. Both Degas and Toulouse-Lautrec were influenced by Japanese design and the use of the flat color field.
