Degas

Degas's Impressionist Circle
Surprisingly, Degas owned relatively few Impressionist paintings. He had nothing by Monet, and the dealer Ambroise Vollard recalled that Degas "brutally returned" one of his two Renoir oils to its maker in late 1899 following a dispute. Much better represented in his collection were examples of printmaking by his contemporaries, who, like Degas, became stimulated by the etching revival that began in Paris in the 1860s.

By the late 1870s Degas had become immersed in a self-proclaimed "metallurgical phase" and was experimenting with various copperplate etching tools and processes, including aquatint and monotype, in order to multiply his vision in black and white. He encouraged colleagues to join him in this pursuit, and thus many of his etchings by Mary Cassatt and Camille Pissarro are those printed during this period, when Degas also tried to found Le Jour et la nuit, a journal illustrated with artists' prints.

Maternal Caress

Photograph Credits