On the sidelines of the official styles, modern art is undeniably marked by artists escaping the artistic standards, the “unclassifiable” that will forever engrave their name in the history of art. We will have among them:
Edgar Degas (1834-1917)
Although Edgar Degas participated in the exhibitions of “Impressionists” his artistic concerns come closer to those of his friend Edouard Manet. It carries out paintings with color flat, the urban world or the public life, but its preferences go to interior scenes and horse races. It attaches particular interest to the theme of women’s toilets, prostitutes, as well as dance that allows it to capture under its brush angles and attitudes both multiple and complex to represent. Undeniably influenced by photography Degas will also perform artworks from unusual views. At the end of his life, despite that Degas became deaf and blind, he devotes himself to sculpture.
Paul Cézanne (1839-1906)
Cézanne participates in the creation of the “Impressionist” movement, but there remains a marginal painter with this aesthetic style of which he is slowly dissociated for a search for the rendering of the form, the composition and the strength of the objects. Unlike the “Impressionists”, Cézanne abandons the technique of light effects and is interested in more varied topics such as: landscapes, still natures, naked, portraits etc. The design of forms within Cézanne artwork are geometric or even cubic, which will make him the precursor of “cubism”.
© Patrick QUENUM (All rights reserved) This article is an excerpt from my book “Western Modern Art” published in Editions – published independently –
