Young Woman and Ibis, 1857… or 1860–62? Oil on canvas, 40×30″
Thanks to Jennifer Small for sending this in response to yesterday’s post about Degas’ failed historical paintings. This one was painted some time between 1857 and 1862 (dates differ), which was around the same time as he was working on the other historical paintings.
Paintings and dates:
The Daughter of Jephtha 1860
The Daughter of Jephtha study 1860
Young Spartans Exercising 1860
Young Spartan Girls Challenging Boys 1860
Young Woman with Ibis 1861
Bucephalus 1861
At the Stables, Horse and Dog 1861
Semiramis Building Babylon 1861
Portrait of Madame Edmondo Morbilli 1865
Scene of War in the Middle Ages 1865
http://art-Degas.com
http://art-Degas.com
http://art-Degas.com
http://art-Degas.com
http://art-Degas.com
http://art-Degas.com
http://art-Degas.com
http://art-Degas.com
http://art-Degas.com
http://art-Degas.com
http://art-Degas.com
http://art-Degas.com
http://art-Degas.com
http://art-Degas.com
Young Woman and Ibis seems unresolved, the landscape separate, the birds and flowers stuck on after everything else had already been half painted. He was trapped. Haven’t we all tried to save a scene by putting a bird on it? And the red-orange birds are a color complementary to the blue-green cloth. Clearly he knew the additions weren’t solving his problems. He was reaching for the easy tricks, and he knew it. He made a quick rough pass of thick desperate “fuck it” paint taken right off the palette, and stopped. I imagine he was thinking about other paintings, and how this or that move could work somewhere else, but not here. Young Woman with Ibis is a weird (yet lovely) painting. It’s nice to see that even the best painters have their puzzles they couldn’t solve.
“Degas made sketches of this composition in a notebook he used during his second stay in Rome in 1857–58. Originally conceived as a depiction of a pensive woman, the picture assumed a mysterious air when Degas added the imaginary Middle Eastern cityscape, the pink flowers, and the two red ibises around 1860–62. About the same time he also considered adding the brilliant birds to his large historical painting Semiramis Building Babylon.” – MetMuseum
Semiramis Building Babylon
The Paint like Degas 2 day workshop starts this Saturday. Artists are welcome to make studies in charcoal, pastel, monotype, or if they’re very very brave: paint. We’ll have a model on the first day, and we’ll work from photographs on the second, like Degas did. What would you enjoy?
Sign up for Draw, Sketch, Print, Paint like Degas.
Washing a brush seems simple enough: Step 1. Get the paint out Step 2. Congratulate yourself on your success. Obvious, no? I was years out of art school, and I had ruined several hundreds of dollars of brushes before I learned how to properly care for my tools. Below are two simple videos on brush care. …
JR is a pseudonym of a French artist who flyposts* large black-and-white photographs on the street, often challenging advertising and media by the use of portraiture and community involvement. In 2010, JR won the TED Prize for 2011. He used the $100,000 award money to start the Inside Out Project. *Flyposting (sometimes known as wild posting or bill posting) …
Have you ever gone shopping for easels and found the options of fall-apart folding easels vs. expensive hardwood calliopes, and thought “what the heck do artists buy?” The answer might surprise you. Many painters don’t use easels at all. For my biggest paintings, two 4x4x16” pieces of wood service nicely. They lift a painting off …
Red Cadmium Red: “Matisse was much taken with this strong new red, which has excellent stability. He recounts that he attempted, unsuccessfully, to persuade Renoir to adopt a “cadmium red” in place of the traditional cinnabar. Matisse inherited the use of intense cadmium red, a 19th century invention, from the Impressionists. The critic John Rusell …
Degas put an Ibis on it
Thanks to Jennifer Small for sending this in response to yesterday’s post about Degas’ failed historical paintings. This one was painted some time between 1857 and 1862 (dates differ), which was around the same time as he was working on the other historical paintings.
Paintings and dates:
Young Woman and Ibis seems unresolved, the landscape separate, the birds and flowers stuck on after everything else had already been half painted. He was trapped. Haven’t we all tried to save a scene by putting a bird on it? And the red-orange birds are a color complementary to the blue-green cloth. Clearly he knew the additions weren’t solving his problems. He was reaching for the easy tricks, and he knew it. He made a quick rough pass of thick desperate “fuck it” paint taken right off the palette, and stopped. I imagine he was thinking about other paintings, and how this or that move could work somewhere else, but not here. Young Woman with Ibis is a weird (yet lovely) painting. It’s nice to see that even the best painters have their puzzles they couldn’t solve.
“Degas made sketches of this composition in a notebook he used during his second stay in Rome in 1857–58. Originally conceived as a depiction of a pensive woman, the picture assumed a mysterious air when Degas added the imaginary Middle Eastern cityscape, the pink flowers, and the two red ibises around 1860–62. About the same time he also considered adding the brilliant birds to his large historical painting Semiramis Building Babylon.” – MetMuseum
The Paint like Degas 2 day workshop starts this Saturday. Artists are welcome to make studies in charcoal, pastel, monotype, or if they’re very very brave: paint. We’ll have a model on the first day, and we’ll work from photographs on the second, like Degas did. What would you enjoy?
Sign up for Draw, Sketch, Print, Paint like Degas.
Related Posts
How to Wash a Brush
Washing a brush seems simple enough: Step 1. Get the paint out Step 2. Congratulate yourself on your success. Obvious, no? I was years out of art school, and I had ruined several hundreds of dollars of brushes before I learned how to properly care for my tools. Below are two simple videos on brush care. …
JR’s Monumental Artworks Have an Olympic Moment in Rio
JR is a pseudonym of a French artist who flyposts* large black-and-white photographs on the street, often challenging advertising and media by the use of portraiture and community involvement. In 2010, JR won the TED Prize for 2011. He used the $100,000 award money to start the Inside Out Project. *Flyposting (sometimes known as wild posting or bill posting) …
Best Easel for Artists
Have you ever gone shopping for easels and found the options of fall-apart folding easels vs. expensive hardwood calliopes, and thought “what the heck do artists buy?” The answer might surprise you. Many painters don’t use easels at all. For my biggest paintings, two 4x4x16” pieces of wood service nicely. They lift a painting off …
Red. White. Blue.
Red Cadmium Red: “Matisse was much taken with this strong new red, which has excellent stability. He recounts that he attempted, unsuccessfully, to persuade Renoir to adopt a “cadmium red” in place of the traditional cinnabar. Matisse inherited the use of intense cadmium red, a 19th century invention, from the Impressionists. The critic John Rusell …