Naked in the Name of Art: A Review of Degas and the Nude

Photo courtesy of The Museum of Fine Arts website, www.mfa.org

In American culture—where sex and sexuality is taboo—the naked body is a subject rarely explored.  Therefore, it is easy to forget that the human form has acted as one of the greatest sources of artistic inspiration since ancient times.  Evidence of the human figure’s inspirational potential is displayed in Degas and the Nude, the exhibit featuring the work of the late French painter and sculptor Edgar Degas at the Museum of Fine Arts.

These works of art, on display from October 9, 2011 until February 5, 2012, have never before been displayed as part of a collection to the public.  Degas is often associated with his paintings of ballerinas and the style of impressionism; this exhibit shows him to be a more dimensional artist.  Not only does the exhibit specifically focus on his work pertaining to the naked body, but it also displays Degas’s work in various media ranging from drawings to monotype, a type of printmaking.

Before entering the exhibit, there is a written description of the collection, which reads: “Degas and the Nude calls attention to the artist’s evolving treatment of the nude, from his early years, through the era of Impressionism, to the triumphant nudes of the 1880s and the monumental figures of the last decades of his working career.”  There are ten subsections of the exhibit, highlighting specific trends and focuses in his career, which display how Degas’s talent grew and how his interests pertaining to the depiction of the naked body varied as he aged.

The first section of the exhibit is largely made up of sketches of the human form, featuring mostly male subjects of various ages. Degas did not intend these drawings to be stand-alone pieces; instead, they were his way of becoming familiar with the details of the naked body. His painting “Young Spartans Exercising,” was made from 1860 to 1862 and depicts naked Spartan adolescent males and half-clothed Spartan adolescent females challenging each other on the field. In it, the amount of practice and painstaking detail he put into studying male and female figures is clear.

Ancient Greece was the setting for some of Degas’s work at the start of his career, as he originally aspired to illustrate historical scenes from mythology and from the Bible.  The second section, called “Scene of War in the Middle Ages,” focuses on his painting of the same name, and the art he made in preparation of that piece depicting the naked body receiving violence.  Most of the work he produced in preparation for Scene of War in the Middle Ages was painted from 1863-1865 and featured female nude forms in uncomfortable and contorted positions. They served as the victims of violence in the final painting.  The medieval war that Degas was recreating in his painting is unknown, but it shows three men on horseback, fully clothed and one with raised bow-and-arrow in hand, with naked women strewn across the ground, dead, or fleeing the men.  This painting was thought to act as a commentary on war, and particularly, as the description noted, “an examination of man’s inhumanity toward woman in time of war.”

Naked women seemed to be a particular subject of interest for Degas, as they became the focus of his work more and more as he advanced in his career.  One of the sections of the exhibit, called “The Body Exploited: Degas’s Brothel Monotypes,” shows women as being very different than the victims he created in his war scenes.  Voluptuous women are illustrated either engaging in sexual activities or posing provocatively, which is very unlike the pained figures of the slain women.  The style of these works also varied significantly from the pieces featured previously, as these images were monotypes and therefore less realistic and detailed.  Degas did not make these pieces to be displayed in a museum, and were instead meant to be private and intimate works of art.

The exhibit further examines how his representation of nude figures continued to evolve over time, as his focus ranged from naked bodies at rest to bodied in motion.  The majority of Degas’s artwork included in the exhibit portrayed women carrying out very basic, everyday tasks such as bathing or combing their hair.  It is also clear, through the inclusion of other artists’ work in the exhibit, how Degas’s representation of the naked body inspired other artists to recreate naked figures in similar way.

Degas’ ability to portray nude bodies accurately and artistically in various forms is made evident by observing the sketches and sculptures he made in leading up to a painting.  A particularly interesting section of the exhibit, called “Bodies in Motion,” reveals a lot of the preparation Degas underwent in order to create his famous depictions of dancers.  He actually studied the dancers nude in each position, and he drew them as naked figures first before drawing clothing on them.

Not only does Degas and the Nude showcase the beauty of the human body through the eyes of one of the most talented artists of the nineteenth century, but it also reveals the dedication of said artist to mastering the reproduction of the nude figure.  It would be easy to spend hours in this exhibit, as there are so many incredible images to capture one’s attention. But this exhibit is more than the sum of its parts; it tells the fascinating story of Degas’s career as an artist.  This exhibit, therefore, has something for everyone.

One Comment on “Naked in the Name of Art: A Review of Degas and the Nude”

  1. November 15, 2011

    Dear Boston University administrators, teachers and students:

    All bronzes, much less brass, attributed to Edgar Degas as sculptures, are 2nd to 3rd-generation-removed posthumous [after 1919] forgeries with counterfeit “Degas” signatures inscribed.

    Edgar Degas died in 1917. The dead don’t sculpt.

    The Museum of Fine Art has perpetuated one of the largest 20th/21st century frauds by including these forgeries in their Degas and the Nude exhibition.

    In other words, Edgar Degas has never seen the work that some, like the Museum of Fine Art, are so eager to give him credit for.

    Rhetorically, it wouldn’t be for admission fees, city-state-federal grants, outright sales, tax write-offs and other monetary considerations?

    If a Boston University student brought something to class they did -not- create, much less sign and tried to pass it off as if they did and got caught, what would happen?

    Expulsion, anyone?

    Should the Museum of Fine Art, much less any museum, be held to a lesser standard of disclosure, much less penalty?

    In closing, to learn more about these contentious issues of authenticity, Google this scholar’s name and Degas.

    Caveat Emptor!

    Gary Arseneau
    artist, creator of original lithographs & scholar
    Fernandina Beach, Florida

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