Degas, (Hilaire-Germain-) Edgar
法國畫家、圖像藝術家和雕刻家。父為富裕銀行家。1855年進入巴黎美術學校學畫。他花了很多時間在義大利學習，模仿古代大師的繪畫，併成為一個技術優良的畫匠，繪製歷史畫和肖像畫。1860年代他受到馬奈（Edouard Manet）的印象主義（Impressionism）的影響，放棄了他的學院派理想，把他的繪畫主題轉向巴黎形色匆匆的生活，特別是芭蕾、戲劇、馬戲團、賽馬場和咖啡館。他還受到日本版畫和新攝影手法的影響，他運用動態的人羣和不常見的透視畫法來創造那種看起來動作很平常自在的人物羣，類似快拍的效果（如《勒皮克子爵及其女兒們》）。竇加出於興趣對芭蕾和賽馬很着迷，他特別喜歡畫那些專注於自己職業的人們。他作了許多粉彩畫，這是他最喜歡用的素材，畫了一系列的女人、浴女、芭蕾伶娜和馬賽。竇加約從1880年開始製造蠟像，這些蠟像後來在他死後鑄成銅像。他是第一個獲得認同的印象派畫家。
1834～1917年
Degas, (Hilaire-Germain-) Edgar
French painter, graphic artist, and sculptor. The son of a wealthy banker, he entered the école des Beaux-Arts in 1855. He spent much time in Italy studying and copying the old masters and became a skilled draftsman, producing history paintings and portraits. In the 1860s he was introduced to Impressionism by Edouard Manet and gave up his academic aspirations, turning for his subject matter to the fast-moving city life of Paris, particularly the ballet, theater, circus, racetrack, and cafés. Influenced by Japanese prints and the new medium of photography, he used displaced figure groupings and unfamiliar perspective to create figure groups seen informally and in movement, similar in effect to snapshots (e.g., Place de la Concorde). His fascination with the ballet and the racetrack sprang from his interest in picturing people absorbed in the practiced movements of their occupations. He worked much in pastel, his favorite medium, producing series of women, bathers, ballerinas, and horse races. From c. 1880 he modeled wax figures, which were cast in bronze after his death. He was the first of the Impressionists to achieve recognition.
