In Degas’ Two dancers on stage, Richard Kendall and Jill DeVonyar hope to convince readers that the piece is not radical, even though it used to be perceived as such. The authors claim that the piece is only half-full of content and point out that when the work of art debuted, even its subjects were harshly criticized, deemed less than beautiful. But today the painting serves as a quintessential image of the beauty of ballet, and it is well-received among art-lovers. While it is one of Degas’ earliest ballet-themed works, it is thought of as the first painting to truly embody ballet. Instead of painting a prima ballerina, the star of the show, Degas chose to focus in great detail on two lesser parts. Later in life Degas became synonymous with risky proportions, but this painting represents a simple and archetypical painting of the day. For this reason, Kendall and DeVonyar claim that opinions of Two dancers on stage as radical should be rethought due to an eventually overdone viewpoint and, what at first seemed scandalous, but was actually expected content.
Seeing familiar images from a much closer perspective shocks viewers at first, but over time a new point of view becomes an old one, and the painting can no longer be considered avant garde. This piece is painted from an innovative perspective, as these dancers would have been stationed far off from the front row of viewers. He needed an assistant seated in a higher position to record the details of the tops of the dancers’ heads so that he could paint from that viewpoint. But from this painting Degas painted many other dancers from close up, backstage, and other unusual perspectives. This method of using a second person to record details from above and paint the minor dancers was only truly revolutionary the very first time it was employed.
Degas utilized revolutionary viewpoints, but the clothing of the dancers was considered inappropriate at the time, which detracted from the good qualities of this painting. Ballet was an extremely pertinent topic at the time Two dancers on stage was painted, and Degas fiddled with other everyday topics as well like bathing and laundry. Critics felt different varieties of the same overall reaction to his work. Some liked it...others did not...but both groups were careful around the bold lewdness of the dancers featured. The original painting was bought by a man who would go on to become a Degas collector. After being sold in London, the painting was kept away from critics and the public for entire decades while it drifted among private citizens’ collections.
Another problem some people have with this painting is that the costumes seem generic, like they could have been designed in Degas' mind and painted on any dancers in any ballet. However, research has proven that the costumes and the scenery on stage in the painting can be traced to a production in Paris that Degas would have likely attended. Don Giovanni by Mozart was very popular at the time and Degas was a known Mozart enthusiast. This explains many things about the painting and gives some validity to the costumes and scenery. Degas, being somewhat of a perfectionist, produced several variations of
paintings with these two dancers, and three versions of Two dancers on
stage resulted. Some critics of the piece claim that dancers were hired
to pose for the painting.
People consider Two dancers on stage to be revolutionary because they consider the scene staged, the costumes improvised, and the viewpoint random.Looking deeper into the history of the piece suggests it is merely an interpretation of one facet of a production that people at the time were familiar with, and therefore not revolutionary at all. It is acceptable for a piece to be revolutionary when it is first displayed and later become routine once others have taken the same approach to painting. Two dancers on stage was a victim of Degas’ perfectionist tendencies. Since he repeated this viewpoint and similar characters, attempting to get everything just right, a once unique theme became redundant.
Works Cited
http://ehis.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=8ca53c8e-90b2-45b0-9e6f-a4ed5441994a%40sessionmgr113&vid=2&hid=120
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