Review: #EdgarDegas: A Strange New Beauty, MOMA


UPDATE: New York Times review: The Modern Degas You Haven’t Seen 
UPDATE: WNYC review: Review: Edgar Degas’s Fingerpaintings 


You look at it. Turn it over. You look again. Turn it the other way. Look again, what’s different, what’s new. Regard every angle. Trace it. Retrace it. Scrap it. Start over.  Be inspired. Be defeated. Be inspired anew. Take a break. Come back and start over. Continue. This is process. It belongs to all of us as workers, students, teachers, friends, lovers, partners. And artists.

Today, I was reminded anew that to be an artist is to be an insistent searcher. For truth, for beauty. For answers. For more questions. The outcome is often secondary to the process of seeking and searching.

The Museum of Modern Art’s new exhibit opening March 26,2016 is called Edgar Degas: A Strange New Beauty. It’s about Degas’ relationship with the monotype process: “…drawing in ink on a metal plate that was then run through a press, typically resulting in a single print.” 

Upon closer inspection, what is on display is Degas relentless pursuit of seeing.

Take this singer, singing.



Ach, I can't even with the subtle shift of perspective, the looking at many angles to find the way in.

This curator’s blurb says it best:



This MOMA show is a gem. I can’t wait to go back with my family and experience it again.

From the MOMA website: "The exhibition includes approximately 120 rarely seen monotypes—along with some 50 related paintings, drawings, pastels, sketchbooks, and prints—that show Degas at his most modern, capturing the spirit of urban life; depicting the body in new and daring ways; liberating mark-making from tradition; and boldly engaging the possibilities of abstraction."

Visitor information is online at MOMAhttp://www.moma.org/ and you can go for free on Fridays nights from 4pm-8pm.

Don't miss this sure-to-be-blockbuster of a show!

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