The French impressionist painter, Edgar Degas, famously painted a lot of beautiful pictures of ballet dancers. Fascinated with the art form, he constantly tried to capture a sense of movement within a medium that could only provide a still response.
Would Degas have liked the modern medium of photography? These images have been captured by photographers, having caught their dancing subjects in the middle of a step. Whilst remaining a still image, do you feel that these capture the movement, and the sense of flight and play that watching ballet conveys?
Which do you think captures the essence of a moving art form in it’s own still medium
…..the impressionist art of Degas or the photographs?
I think Degas would have loved the modern camera and its ability to capture action in a split second.
He did experiment with photography but it was still in its infancy and so the dancer had to hold the pose for a long time whilst the shot was taken. The photo would lose the whole notion of movement that he was so keen to portray. So he returned to painting.
I think that photography is amazing at capturing an instant but for me that can lose the movement whereas with the energy of sweeping brushstrokes it is easier to feel the portrayed flow of movement.