But a couple of years previous to that I visited the National Gallery
in London, walked into a room with Degas' AFTER THE BATH hanging.
Large work! Many layers! Got my face as close to it as legally
possible...and did not see anything else in that great museum. Stood
there for at least 45 minutes. For me, everything I needed to know
about drawing was present in that one work.
from the National Gallery website:
<<After the Bath, Woman drying herself
about 1890-5
DEGAS, Hilaire-Germain-Edgar
1834 - 1917
NG6295. Bought, 1959.
Stamped.
This densely worked pastel is executed on several pieces of paper
mounted on cardboard. Degas seems to have extended the composition
while working on it, hence the need for additional pieces of paper.
This work is one of a series of similar subjects dating from this
period, when bathers and dancers were the artist's principal themes.
Here Degas has exploited the flexibility of the pastel medium, creating
sumptuous textures and blurred contours which emphasise the movement of
the figure.
Pastel on wove paper laid on millboard
103.5 x 98.5 cm.>>
Some work will not speak to us as artists, no matter how 'great'.
Others blindside us and leave us breathless. And to comment on a
previous thread about the importance of museums and 'live' art works: I
agree: you HAVE to be there to get this breathlessness.
Our students also can have intense visceral reactions to art, both
positive and negative. We cannot tell them what to love.
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