Getty Museum
Sketches of Café Singers
Creator
Edgar DegasFrench Photographer · 1834–1917
All works by this person →> No art was ever less spontaneous than mine. What I do is the result of reflection and study of the great masters; of inspiration, spontaneity, temperament . . . I know nothing. > > --Edgar Germaine Hilaire Degas From a wealthy Parisian family, Degas devoted himself exclusively to painting without needing to sell a canvas. His training was conventional: he spent five years in Italy, studied the O
More on Getty ULAN- Date
- about 1877
- Medium
- Graphite
- Culture
- French
- Department
- Drawings
- Institution
- Getty Museum
In the 1800s, when people depended on gaslight to light their homes, many artists put down their brushes at dusk and spent the late afternoon and evening in the many cafés around Paris. They gathered around the marble-topped tables to discuss ideas with their friends or to watch the singers who arrived to entertain them. One evening Edgar Degas quickly sketched the café singer Theresa singing *La* *Chanson du Chien* (The Song of the Dog), a catchy little tune in which she imitated a dog as part of her act. Caught in full song, Theresa lifts her gloved hands to imitate the forlorn begging of a dog. Degas's quick pencil lines capture the fleshy width of her arms and chest, the ruffled edge of her low-cut gown, and her simple, upswept hair. With her open mouth and tilted head, she almost seems to be howling. A grotesque caricature in the upper right corner gives a crueler impression of the singer, with a gaping, toothy mouth, wrinkled eyes, and protruding nose.
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