NORTON SIMON MUSEUM

         I had maybe a great day at Norton Simon Museum on Feb 7. I was not excited when going to art museum. Surely I don't have anything to say about art and I don't know anything either. I got admission and went to room by room. At first, I didn't know which artist and artwork to pick, so I could write this paper. When I went through all of the artworks of Edgar Degas, I was so impressive and kindda excited. Most of his paintings were about women and dancers. Therefore, I started to think about compare two of his paintings, one is about dancers and the other is about women. Then I went for it. I picked this two paintings: Fan: Dancers on The Stage (1879) and Young Girl Beside The Sea (1869).

   
         This is some research about Edgar Degas. I think it is important when going through his paintings. He is regarded as one of the founders of Impressionism. He is especially identified with the subject of the dance, and over half his works depict dancers. These display his mastery in the depiction of movement, as do his racecourse subjects and female nudes. His portraits are notable for their psychological complexity and depiction of human isolation. Degas's style reflects his deep respect for the old masters and his great admiration for Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres and Eugène Delacroix. He was also a collector of Japanese prints, whose compositional principles influenced his work, as did the vigorous realism of popular illustrators such as Daumier and Gavarni.
By the late 1860s, Degas had shifted from his initial forays into history painting to an original observation of contemporary life. Racecourse scenes provided an opportunity to depict horses and their riders in a modern context. He began to paint women at work, milliners and laundresses.
 In his paintings of dancers and laundresses, he reveals their occupations not only by their dress and activities but also by their body type: his ballerinas exhibit an athletic physicality, while his laundresses are heavy and solid.
Degas began to draw and paint women drying themselves with towels, combing their hair, and bathing. The strokes that model the form are scribbled more freely than before; backgrounds are simplified.

The upper painting is Fan: Dancers on The Stage (1879). Clearly influenced by Japanese art and fashion, the fan motif was adopted by many of the Impressionist painters. The placement of the pairs of gossiping ballerinas at two different distances as well as the incongruous setting of the green stage flats and purple scrim present a highly original composition in which the facile registration of distance and viewpoints is actively denied. The dancers are wearing some Japanese dresses. Their body are skinny. It makes them easier for ballet. This painting is kindda complex. Degas's paintings likely shifted by the movement. 
The lower artwork is Young Girl beside the sea (1869). This is one of most unusual paintings. The open mouth and exquisitely modeled facial features of the figure in the foreground, combined with the slack neck and torso, suggest a young woman exhausted by the outdoor sun. This is a working woman, so her body tended to be strong and heavy. It matches with her work.