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The works of Edgar Degas were deeply
influenced by Japanese art, yet surprisingly, there has never been
an exhibition devoted to this subject...until now. Degas and the
Art of Japan at the Reading Public Museum, on display now through
Sunday, December 30, 2007, is the first exhibition of its kind to
bring together a variety of works by Degas with an illuminating
selection of Japanese objects, including a work actually owned by
Degas and many images he knew and admired. Displayed side-by-side
with the art of the famous Impressionist, these dynamic scenes of
Japanese life are revealed as the inspiration for many of Degas'
most inventive pictures of dancers, cabaret singers, laundresses
and the French countryside.
This unique exhibition of over 60 works,
organized by the Reading Public Museum, includes works by Degas
borrowed from museums and private collections in the United States,
Canada and Europe -- as well as three extraordinary pictures by
Degas belonging to the Reading Public Museum's permanent
collection. The Degas works are complemented by Japanese objects
from major national institutions, as well as from the Museum's own
extensive collection.
As the exhibition progresses, Degas' debt
to Japanese art comes alive in portraits, pictures of women bathing
and combing their hair, scenes of theater-goers and ladies of
leisure, and in fans... one decorated by the artist himself.
Previously unidentified links between Degas' pictures of
laundresses and their Ukiyo-e prototypes are brought to light, as
will other little-known aspects of the French artist's sustained
engagement with the art of Japan.
The exhibition is accompanied by a
fully-illustrated color catalogue written by exhibition curators
Jill DeVonyar and Richard Kendall, who also organized the
groundbreaking exhibition Degas and the Dance in 2002-3 at the
Philadelphia Museum of Art.
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