Edgar Degas (1833-1917), according to many of his own words, was decidedly not one of those “plein air landscape painters.” You know the ones, Monet, Pissarro, Sisley, who ran about outside to capture the changing moods of the light on the river or the ocean (possibly being nearly swept away as Monet once was) or standing about in the snow to look at the colored reflections on the ice. Well, they were just not in Degas’ mode of thinking. As he once firmly put it, “Painting is not a sport!” Degas and his close colleague, Edouard Manet, were studio painters. Staying inside where they could adjust the light, have all their equipment about them and be undisturbed by blowing winds, crashing waves, and the occasional insect, was just more civilized. Of course, this does not mention the fact that it was so much easier to go off to that favorite haunt of Manet’s crowd, the Café Guerbois, have a smoke, some wine, and talk about what they were creating. And yet, Degas created some of the most beautiful landscapes of the Impressionist period. So what happened and how?
Probably the best place to start is with a comment made about the artist by one of his longest lasting friends (and he did not have too many), Camille Pissarro, who said of Degas, “He is an anarchist, but in art.” Impressionism was all about a certain type of art anarchy. It was a break with the old school’s classically formatted, huge paintings of notable figures and stories from history, ancient mythology, and the Bible. Degas strove to take it a step further. He refused to let nature dictate what was represented in his paintings, saying, “A painting is first of all the product of the imagination of the artist.” That statement allows the viewer to understand the difference in the conception of color and the artificial quality seen in Degas’ landscapes when compared to those of his Impressionist contemporaries.
For instance, in the painting below, Field of Flax (1891-1892), it is rather unlikely that such a neat, lovely, violet and pink square of flax, would appear laid out like a carpet amid the other dull patches of perhaps cultivated fields in this hilly forest-like landscape. Except for the bright spots of yellow in the foreground, the field of flax is the superstar in this painting, almost inviting the viewer to go lie down on this colorful natural blanket.
While Field of Flax seems to be just one of Degas imagined scenes of nature, perhaps based on a memory or a dream(?), he was also able to capture in his painting one of the concerns of the day, the rapid encrouchment of industrialization.
The smokestacks in the distance of Landscape with Smokestacks, where the black smoke is a counterpoint to the natural loveliness of the scene, the nature itself is a bit fantasized, with even some of the trees in the field being represented with the fuzzy, smoke-like quality of smokestacks. The landscape seems to be a comment on nature versus industry, with those smoky trees indicating the invasion of industrialization into what had been pristine loveliness. The cluster of flowers in the foreground add wonderful color that fades into distinct violets and greens as the land stretches out before us. However, there are large barren areas in that land, begging the visual question of what has blighted the area.
It has been said that Degas’ landscapes are made from imagination and memory. Memories, as we all know, are rather fuzzy, partially faded, not exact, and prone to imaginative flourishes. Degas was able to add to this quality of the not-quite-real by using rather unusual methods to create his landscapes. Degas was a master of painting with pastels, as can be seen in his early landscapes of the Normandy coast done around 1869, as well as his famous ballerinas, bathers, and horses. However, in the mid-1870s, he was introduced to monotype printing, a format that allows the artist to draw with inks on a metal plate, then press one print to create a completely unique work of art. Degas took the process a step further by pressing yet another print from the ink left over. This degraded version of the print was then worked again with pastels to create another distinct piece of art. It is that process that one sees in his landscapes from the 1880s forward. The process is described and visually shown in this short video, Edgar Degas: A Strange New Beauty youtube.com
As a young man, Degas was very much influenced by the art of Jean-Auguste Dominique Ingres, a Neoclassical painter. Ingres told the young Degas to “focus on the line.” Degas took this tip to heart, as line was the key to one of the things that attracted him the most: movement. His famous work of the dancers, horses, etc. were all about the study of movement. However, his landscapes are also influenced by this attention to line, and sometimes the lines found in the human body. In the painting below one can make out the representation of a shoulder. Degas said when viewing a block of granite, “What a beautiful line, beautiful like a shoulder. I will make a steep embankment, with a view of the sea.”
Et voilà! There it is. It is rugged and rough, but one can make out the general shape of a well-muscled shoulder with an arm descending at its side. Degas makes this outcrop overlooking the sea into a hillside of rock and flowering plants, using tonal harmonies in yellows and oranges with a counterpoint of green, though the inspiration was from his figure drawing.
Degas pushed the envelop as only he could, preferring to experiment in his studio with line, movement, and the effects of imagination and memory to move the landscape into new territory. We plein air painters can forgive him for being as unique as his pastel-treated monotypes.
For a slide show of Degas’ wonderful landscapes in pastels and pastel over monotype, see this Edgar Degas video (in three languages) youtube.com .
Degas’ Influence on a Painter of the Southwest.
Sandra Pérez is a native of California, who spent long years in the northwestern city of Seattle before being completely captivated by the wonders of the southwestern landscape in and around Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she now lives. She works in pastels, and Edgar Degas’ pastel landscapes are among her favored inspirations. Unlike Degas, she is a plein air painter, even always carrying a small assortment of soft pastels and a little notebook with her in order to capture quick sketches of views that inspire her as she moves about her daily activities. The places sketched are often returned to for further plein air work.
Her handling of the different shades of yellows and oranges is reminiscent of Degas’ color combinations for his Coastal Landscape. Little bits of distinction can be noted in the field of yellowed grasses, just as we see similar variation among the plants on Degas’ seacliff. Likewise the color that is the counterbalance to the yellow and orange is green. In various shades from light spring green highlighted by sunlight to the deep brownish greens with purple shadows, it makes for a cool contrast to those sunny colors, as strongly massed together as is Degas’ “shoulder-like” cliff overlooking the sea.
Pérez does do finishing touches on her work in her studio. (Ah ha! says Degas.) However, whether in the studio or out in the field, the role that Degas established for creating a certain feeling in the use of pastels is honored, amplified, and continued here far from France in the wilds of the southwestern U.S.A.
For more on the work of Sandra Pérez, go to “Sandra Pérez: Poetry in Pastel” vernellestudio.com/blog
The paintings used in this article are in public domain or used with the permission of the artist. Reference source on Degas is Degas by Bernd Crowe, Taschen Publications (2005).
Marjorie Vernelle is an artist, writer, college professor, and traveler. For more see the Pages at ofartandwine.com or her author page at amazon.com and her art at Vernelle Art Boutique vernellestudio.com.
Oh, those wines of Burgundy! Pouilly Fuissé
Well, there you see it. Burgundy, that fabled area of France that as a duchy once was a real rival for power to the kingdom of France (think Joan of Arc days). While Joan did not fare so well, Burgundy, though finally integrated into France, still remains an area with its own culture and cultural contributions. One of those is a special wine made of Chardonnay grapes that takes the name of a southern Burgundian wine growing region known as Pouilly. From there come white wines like Pouilly Vinzelle and Pouilly Loche, but the most famous is Pouilly Fuissé.
At this point, we must practice our French. The pronunciation is like this: Pooh- yee Fwee-say (I beg the pardon of my linguistics profs for not using proper transcription, but pop culture wins here). Now that we know how to do that, the next thing is not to mix it up with Pouilly Fumé, which is another French wine but from the western side of France in the Loire Valley. It is made of Sauvignon Blanc grapes and is the subject of another Of Art and Wine post “The Hazy Light of Corot and the Light Smoke of Pouilly Fumé” Fumé by the way means smoked, a taste that comes into the wine from the flint in the limestone that underlies the northern Loire Valley.
Pouilly Fuissé comes by its rich flavor, described as a taste of pears and apples, with a bit of lemon and a buttery finish, by going through a distinct process, called “split oaking.” During fermentation 2/3s of the grapes are fermented in stainless steel containers, while 1/3 is fermented in oak barrels. What this does is tame the sometimes too buttery taste that Chardonnay is sometimes known for, especially when one recalls the Chardonnays of the 1980s when oaking went overboard. In the split-oaking process, the fruity notes are allowed to emerge, accented by that tang of lemon before one’s palate is warmed by a mild taste of butter.
Seafood platter, a perfect pair for Pouilly Fuissé.
Well, I will tell you my hands-down favorite thing to have with this wine. It’s freshed picked crab (king, snow or Dungeness) with fresh lemon and a mild garlic touch in some hot melted butter for dipping. However, if you wish to enjoy this wine with more everyday foods, you can enjoy it with smoked salmon, artichokes with Hollandaise sauce, roast chicken or just a plain old quiche. Serve the wine chilled at about 46 degrees, and you are good to go for some fine dining.
So whatever your choice of meals, if it includes fish, seafood or simple, lightly roasted chicken, Pouilly Fuissé is a wonderful wine to pair with it. Should you decide you want a full bodied red for your winter meat dishes, Burgundy has those, too. You really can’t lose if you go Burgundian.
While we can’t travel much these days, we can still have our fine wine experience by joining a wine club. Cellars Wine Club of International Wines is a excellent way to experience wines from around the world and decide by wine where you will be traveling in future. Cellars has a number of wine clubs, one for every level of taste and budget, a “no bad bottle” return policy, and free shipping. See the page under Of Art and Wine Pages.
Photos used in this section are free stock photos from iStock.com and dreamstime.com.
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©marjorie vernelle 2020
Coming Soon: The Fine Art of Drawing, and Wine for After Dinner, Marsala.
Drawing is hard, even drawing from a portrait, let alone from real life. However, drawing is one of humankind’s oldest art forms, and well worth a good look. Since Caravaggio here spent time in southern Italy, we will get acquainted with Marsala, a bracing after dinner wine, straight out of Sicily.