Wednesday, April 16, 2014

N is for "Nude Combing Her Hair," by Edgar Degas (without the illustration)

"Nude Combing Her Hair."  1886-1888.  Degas was also known for his luscious paintings of nudes.  But in some ways, there was a difference.  He painted women doing their everyday tasks, dressing, bathing, washing their feet, ironing, etc.  This quote explains his philosophy, "Hitherto the nude has always been represented in poses which presuppose an audience; but these women of mine are honest, simple folk, unconcerned by any other interests than those involved in their physical condition.  Here is as if you looked through a keyhole."

In "Nude Combing Her Hair,"  Degas used pastels on paper mounted on board. He rubbed in so many layers of pastels that the pigment stands out from the work, almost like little hairs.  Two versions of this work can be seen, one at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the other in St. Petersburg, Russia, at the Stage Museum.

Because I was not sure about displaying a painting of a nude for this challenge, I thought I would just write a bit about his nude paintings and leave it up to readers of this blog post to look them up on Wikipedia.

The keyhole remark is one to keep in mind when looking at Degas's paintings of women.  They are not always in the most flattering of poses, but just themselves.  In the nude paintings the observer is a voyeur, not supposed to be there, but there he is.  


10 comments:

  1. I've looked this painting up and as you say there are more than one version, so I'm not sure if I've seen the right one for this post. I do love how his paintings are meant to be seen as private moments as opposed to posed paintings, it's how I prefer modern day photos which are taken as people move naturally and this is how his paintings are meant to be, too.

    I wouldn't have thought this type of image would need to be posted under the A-Z Challenge adult content banner, it's nude but not provocative, exactly how Degas meant it to be. Unposed and unprovocative. Alternatively, I did enjoy looking it up as it has brought up further Dega paintings to look at.

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  2. Thanks, DayDreamer. I just did not know what to do with it, did not plan ahead to "ask" someone, so I just did not use any of the several nudes in the Dover Collection. The more I find out about Degas, the more I think of him as more than just a painter of ballerinas, etc.

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  3. I thought the 'keyhole' comment was illuminating.

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    1. Can you just see "The Keyhole" as a title for a book about art?

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  4. I like that his paintings were not posed, but set to reflect relaxed, private, moments. I am not sure I have seen this painting in New York, but will go and see if I can find it online.

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    1. Inger, sadly living in Denver we don't have the Met. But if you do see this painting in person, let me know. I may get to NY this Fall, and will make it a point to see it.

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  5. I looked this up on Google Images and there are lots of different Degas pictures of a similar title. They are mostly back-views and even the front views are not really in danger of offending anyone. (Well, not me anyway!) Degas was a great innovator in art wasn't he?
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  6. The more I learn about him, I appreciate how he was always trying new ways of painting, new angles, mixing media, and drawing, drawing, drawing. The nudes were/are beautiful. And in this painting the model has gorgeous red hair.

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  7. I will have to google and check this one out.

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  8. Hi Natalie .. the one in Wiki - is interesting utilising the concept of 'through the keyhole' ... and you're opening my eyes to new ways of looking at art ... cheers Hilary

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