At the Theater (also known as Lydia Cassatt Leaning on Her Arms, Seated in a Loge)
Mary Cassatt
Pastel
1879-1880
Pastel
1879-1880
The "Greatest Pastel" question has raised a lot of interest, and you all know my own choice has been the Degas painting posted below. At Making a Mark, the subject is being raised again and moderated by Katherine Tyrrell on this post.
Someone at one of the forums that Katherine linked to mentioned the Cassatt work of Lydia Cassatt, and I was amazed at how much alike the contemporary Degas Green Singer work was to this.
La Chanteuse Verte, 188423.75 " x 18.25"
The Green Singer
Pastel
Edgar Degas
Which do you like better? I will offer my own opinion in a future post.
Note: See today's post at Pastel reviewing the Diane Townsend Pastel line.
Note: See today's post at Pastel reviewing the Diane Townsend Pastel line.
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7 comments:
the cassat one is beautiful in its subtlety but I am more drawn to the degas because the lights are so strong and I love how he used it to define the bones of the body (as in the clavicle).
Though I adore Degas, out of these two I think I prefer the Cassat - the glowing colours seem to emphasise her rapt expression, and her hair and skin so soft and burnished.
I must admit I favor the Cassatt for the simple reason that the Degas' anatomy bothers me. I love the quality of light in both.
Doing my best Jeff Probst, "That's one for Degas, and two for Cassat."
Thanks Corrine, Meg and Cathy.
Degas was a classically trained renderer, but maybe the limbs look a little funny here. I never noticed it before.
More comments?
that probably isn't the Degas painting that I would have chosen - but I like both of them, maybe slightly preferring the Degas. I really like the offbeat compositions he uses as well as the colour/marks/drama/mood.
Do you know the work of David Prentice (English, does work on the Malvern Hills here) - he does the most wonderful large abstracted pastels that I think you would like.
There are links to him on my blog.
And ... I've got to say thank you for the cards of your work that arrived today - GORGEOUS!!!! thank you :) - they are going up on the wall above my desk :)
Thanks, Vivien.
For those of you who missed it, I am sending an envelope with 3 or 4 of my postcards from this year and previous years to those who e-mail me their snail address. I don't share it, and my mailings are few and far between.
I will be weighing in on the subject of which pastel I like best, soon. And, I have minted an award to present to the winner. Stay tuned.
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