Now in its final week at The Royal Academy in London, Degas and the Ballet: Picturing Movement, exceeded my expectations this week, handsomely. It is a comprehensive exploration of Degas's interest in capturing and depicting movement through dance. The curators, Ann Dumas, Jill DeVonyar and Richard Kendall, have done a superb job in putting together a well structured and beautifully hung exhibition.
The visitor can follow Degas's process of investigation from his quick charcoal sketches through to fully resolved paintings. But he also adopted the techniques of sculpture, and the latest photographic innovations to help him capture and depict the ballet dancers' poses and movement in the practice studio and on stage. As a sculptor myself I could well appreciate the series of preparatory sketches from life he did for his famous metre tall bronze sculpture, Little Dancer Aged Fourteen. The displays helpfully displayed how each drawing fitted into his scheme in addressing the figure from 360 degrees, with the bronze itself as centre-piece.
The exhibition has so many points of interest but I would also highlight; the panoramic format paintings of the dancers in their Green Room preparing for performance, and the later bolder and larger charcoal drawings matched with the paintings such as the Blue Dancers which embody the poses from the charcoal drawing. The smaller 1/3rd life size sketches, originally done in wax but cast after his death in bronze, of ballet dancers in specific poses have a real charm. But the curators have kept the best almost to last; the wonderful vibrant pastel paintings of his late years such as the Russian Dancers and Dancers in Blue are visually stunning. The irridescent colours and imaginative compositions almost worth going to see for this room alone.
I spent a good four hours at this exhibition resting periodically to absorb the richness of material on offer. From my vantage point on the banquette in the first room opposite Degas's painting, Ballet Scene from Meyerbeer's Opera 'Robert le Diable' I sat sketching the steady stream of visitors as they filed past. There was I, trying to capture movement, I in my little Moleskine sketchbook, much as Degas had been doing over 100 years ago. The artistic challenge in "picturing movement" is still the same.
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