What is an Impressionist?
Exhibited at all 8 Impressionist exhibitions Interested in new ways of viewing/representing reality / did not have the preoccupation with light and colour of Monet and Pissarro. Focus on urban indoor scenes (as opposed to the more general outdoor focus of the rest of the Impressionists) Fig. 16.32. DANCING CLASS. 1876. c. 3×2′ http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/degas/ballet/degas.classe-danse.jpg http://digilander.libero.it/webpainter2/degas/class.jpg Interest in contemporary urban life / the realism of that life View of the ballet class in its tedium of repetition, practice Ballet not considered a high art at the time; lower class, very young girls put through the rigours of practise. Unusual high perspective Large empty areas of space / no main focus / cut off view Degas attempted a view closer to reality, to the way the world is actually viewed ie. not composed (i.e. centred, focused), but rather as it is glimpsed or seen from a casual viewers perspective Influence of Japanese pri
