MOMA: Edgar Degas: A Strange New Beauty

The current exhibit at MOMA, Edgar Degas: A Strange New Beauty, is interesting for the insight it provides into the working methods of one of the most prominent French artists of the late nineteenth century.  Those who are familiar with Degas only though his iconic pastels of dancers will be surprised to learn that he also experimented widely with the graphic arts.  As the museum's website states:

"Captivated by the monotype’s potential, he immersed in the technique with enormous enthusiasm, taking the medium to radical ends. He expanded the possibilities of drawing, created surfaces with a heightened sense of tactility, and invented new means for new subjects, from dancers in motion to the radiance of electric light, from women in intimate settings to meteorological effects in nature."

Unfortunately, the website does not offer any images of the works on view to help the public better understand the nature of the exhibit.

The monotype process itself can briefly be explained as a method in which the artist draws or paints an image on a matrix, most often a copper etching plate, and then uses an etching press to transfer that image to a sheet of art paper.  This is in contrast to the etching process in which lines are incised directly onto the plate and then inked before being put in the press.  As a result, only one impression can be obtained for a monotype while a number of impressions can be obtained of an etching before the plate becomes unusable.  A key difference in the final image is that monotypes appear less sharp than etchings.  One could say that they have a more "impressionistic" nature.  A hybrid form is the monoprint whose plate already possesses permanent features, such as incised lines, before the artist paints an image upon it.  Cognates, on the other hand, are created by pressing the wet monoprint against another sheet of paper and thus transferring the image, in reverse, to the second sheet.

Degas was always willing to experiment.  Last year, I reviewed the Met Museum's monograph, Edgar Degas, Photographer, that traced the artist's interest late in life in mastering the photographic process.  What is most interesting is that in practicing both monotype and photographic techniques, Degas displayed little regard for "rules."  Instead he delighted in adapting these processes to his own ends.  He was, in fact, wildly creative and his works in both media are truly distinctive and stamped with his own personality.  This can be seen most clearly in the "dark field" or "reductive" prints achieved by wiping away ink with a rag, stick or even fingers.  The wiping necessarily blurs the image and renders it indistinct while at the same time building tone. 

The show at MOMA consists of several different parts.  The largest part is given over to Degas's work with street scenes, cabaret interiors, dancers (the monochromatic Three Ballet Dancers is one of the most notable works in the show) and nudes (including several candid brothel scenes that appear to anticipate Brassaï's 1930's photographs in Paris de Nuit), the same subjects he pursued in other media.  There is also a gallery displaying his landscape work, but to me this was the weakest part of the exhibit.  One gallery is given over to the artist's "dark" monotypes.  Another contains works in other media created after Degas had given up making monotypes with the aim of demonstrating the extent to which his monotyping had a lasting impact on his oeuvre.

The exhibit continues through July 24, 2016.