THE FRICK ART & HISTORICAL CENTER PRESENTS EDGAR DEGAS: THE PRIVATE IMPRESSIONIST
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Contact: Greg Langel For Immediate Release
Media and Marketing Manager
412-342-4075
GLangel@TheFrickPittsburgh.org
THE FRICK ART & HISTORICAL CENTER PRESENTS
EDGAR DEGAS: THE PRIVATE IMPRESSIONIST
WORKS ON PAPER BY THE ARTIST AND HIS CIRCLE
Exhibition opening June 28, 2014 at The Frick Art Museum features
works on paper by Degas—known as one of the strongest draftsmen of the Impressionist
circle—and his contemporaries
PITTSBURGH, PA, June 24, 2014—Edgar Degas: The Private Impressionist—Works on Paper
by the Artist and his Circle opens at the Frick Art & Historical Center in Point Breeze on
Saturday, June 28, 2014. Edgar Degas (1834–1917), one of the most familiar of the Impressionist
artists, is known for his iconic paintings of ballet dancers, horse racing, and bathers. This
exhibition of more than 100 works on paper is built around a core group of 55 works by Degas,
known as one of the strongest draftsmen of the Impressionist circle. From early drawings to late
experiments in photography, the exhibition will illuminate the artist’s personal life, his creative
restlessness and experimentation, and his wider artistic circle. Complemented by more than 50
works by his contemporaries, Edgar Degas: The Private Impressionist creates an intimate
portrait of the artist by investigating his most famous subjects, the people that were close to him,
and the types of artworks he himself collected. The exhibition will remain on view through
October 5, 2014. Admission to the exhibition is free.
An opening celebration will be held on Friday, June 27, 2014 from 6:00–8:00 p.m. at The Frick
Art Museum. Opening celebration admission is $10 for members; $17 for non-members &
guests. Reservations are recommended and may be made by calling 412-371-0600.Although Degas’ artistic interests were apparent from a young age, his family expected him to
study law, and so, after a classical education in which he learned both Latin and Greek, Degas
dutifully began his law studies in 1853. In 1855, however, Degas met the celebrated artist Jean–
Auguste–Dominique Ingres (1780–1867), at this oft-recounted meeting, Ingres advised the
young Degas, “Draw lines, young man, nothing but lines, from life and from memory.” Heeding
Ingres’ advice, Degas began attending the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in April that same year. A year
later, he traveled to Italy, where he spent three years. He first visited family in Naples, and later
traveled to Rome where he became friends with Gustave Moreau (1826–1898) and Léon Bonnat
(1833–1922), who were studying in Italy at the Academie Française. Degas drew and painted
copies after Michelangelo, Raphael, Titian, and other Renaissance artists, but his interest in
portraiture also intensified, and he made many studies of his family that reveal his early interest
in exploring the individual in modern society. Dating to the same time period as Degas’ famous
group portrait The Bellili Family, his drawing of one of his young Italian relatives, Mlle
Dembowska, depicts her with an unusually self-composed and thoughtful expression.
Another significant meeting with a fellow artist had a great impact on the direction of his work,
when Degas met Edouard Manet (1832–1883) in the early 1860s while both were making copies
at the Louvre. With Manet’s encouragement Degas exhibited his first modern subject,
Steeplechase: The Fallen Jockey, at the Salon of 1866.
The 1870s were an eventful period for Degas—he traveled to America in 1872, where he spent
time in New Orleans with family. (The exhibition includes two Cecil Beaton photographs from
the 1940s of the Degas residences in New Orleans.) In 1874, after the death of his father, Degas
took responsibility for his brother’s debts. For the first time in his life, he needed to earn a living
from his art. That same year, he exhibited with The Anonymous Society of Painters, Sculptors
and Engravers—later to become known as the Impressionists. Degas however had little in
common with Monet and the plein air painters of the Impressionist group, stating at one point,
“No art was ever less spontaneous than mine. What I do is the result of reflection and of the
study of the great masters . . .” It was Degas’ interest in experimentation, modernity and working
outside the academy that made him an Impressionist.
2As Degas’ financial situation improved he began his own art collection. Three artists he idolized,
Ingres, Delacroix and Daumier, were especially well represented in his collection. Many of the
artists he personally admired and collected, as well as other peers are represented in the section
of the exhibition examining the circle of Degas in Edgar Degas: The Private Impressionist,
including notables like Giovanni Boldini (1842–19431), Eugène Carrière (1849–1906), Mary
Cassatt (1844–1926), Paul Cézanne (1839–1906), Honoré Daumier (1808–1879), Jean-Léon
Gérôme (1824–1904), Ingres, Alphonse Legros (1837–1911), Manet, Adolph Menzel (1815–
1905), Moreau, Edweard Muybridge (1830–1904), Camille Pissarro (1830–1903), Pierre Puvis
de Chavannes (1824–1898), and James Tissot (1836–1902).
Degas enthusiastically embraced the new medium of photography and a number of his
photographs are included in the exhibition, both illuminating this facet of his career and further
elaborating the artistic circles of the time; since Degas often photographed friends, luminaries
like the composers Chausson and Debussy appear in his photographs. Particularly interested in
creating formal compositions and exploring light effects, one of Degas’ acquaintances recalled
that an evening with Degas and a camera required “two hours of military obedience.”
Edgar Degas: The Private Impressionist—Works on Paper by the Artist and his Circle provides
a rare glimpse into Degas’ personal interests, work process and experimentation through
drawings, etchings, monoprints and photographs and through investigating his most famous
subjects, the people that were close to him and the types of artworks he himself collected. The
works will be installed in a thematic chronology—beginning with early drawings made after Old
Masters and antiquities at the Louvre, and featuring some early family portraits. Degas’ time in
Italy is represented by several early etchings and the beautiful drawing Mlle. Dembowska. A
section of the exhibition explores his experimentation with printmaking, including etchings,
aquatints, and drypoints. One chromolithograph and a number of drawings illustrate his interest
in horses and racing subjects. Later work is represented through his photography and
experiments with monoprints. Together the works by Degas and his circle provide a rich cross-
section of the cultural life of France in the second half of the nineteenth century, expanding our
vision of Degas and giving a sense of the varied personalities and common interests of the time.
3EXHIBITION ORGANIZATION AND SUPPORT
Edgar Degas: The Private Impressionist—Works on Paper by the Artist and His Circle was
organized by Landau Traveling Exhibitions, Los Angeles, CA, in association with Denenberg
Fine Arts, West Hollywood, CA.
The Pittsburgh presentation is made possible through the generous support of First National
Bank.
ABOUT THE FRICK PITTSBURGH
Located on the Pittsburgh estate of late-19th-century industrialist Henry Clay Frick, the Frick Art
& Historical Center is the steward of collections left as a legacy to the people of Pittsburgh by
Frick’s daughter, Helen Clay Frick. The permanent collections include fine and decorative arts,
cars, carriages, and historic objects (including buildings).
Built by Helen Clay Frick in 1969, The Frick Art Museum displays an exquisite permanent
collection of European paintings, sculpture, and decorative arts from the 13th to 18th centuries,
and presents outstanding temporary exhibitions from some of the world’s finest collections and
museums.
Clayton, the Henry Clay Frick family mansion, is one of the most intact Gilded Age homes in the
United States and possesses general significance as an artifact of American social history and a
document of American and regional architecture. Restored to its original glory and opened as a
house museum in 1990, an astonishing ninety-three percent of Clayton’s artifacts are original.
The Frick family’s carriages and automobiles provided the inspiration for the development of the
Car and Carriage Museum, today home to a collection of more than twenty vintage automobiles.
A museum of transportation design and history, the Car and Carriage Museum also presents
temporary exhibitions throughout the year.
Also included on the Frick’s five-acre site of beautifully landscaped lawns and gardens are the
Frick children’s playhouse, designed by renowned architects Alden & Harlow, which currently
4serves as a Visitor Center and Museum Shop, a large working greenhouse (also designed by
Alden & Harlow), an education center, and The Café at the Frick.
The Frick Art Museum, Car and Carriage Museum, The Café, Visitor Center, Museum Shop,
grounds, and first floor of Clayton are accessible, and wheelchairs are available on site.
Accessible rest rooms are available in The Frick Art Museum, the Car and Carriage Museum and
the Administration building. If requested in advance, tours can arranged for hearing and visually
impaired visitors.
# # #
For additional information or images, please contact Greg Langel, Media and Marketing
Manager, at 412-342-4075 or GLangel@TheFrickPittsburgh.org
The Frick Art & Historical Center, a museum, historic site and cultural center, serves the public through
preservation, presentation, and interpretation of the fine and decorative arts and historically significant
artifacts for all residents of and visitors to Western Pennsylvania.
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