Edgar Degas and Drawing From Observation,

Goals:
Learn about Edgar Degas
Practice drawing from observation

Enduring understandings:
Edgar Degas:
• Was friends with some of the Impressionists, but did not consider himself to be one
• Invented a new composition and techniques for working with pastels
• Was a perfectionist who often felt that he “could not get it right”
• Is best remembered for his oeuvre depicting ballerinas and racehorses

Drawing from life is a different process than drawing from a flat image, whether it is a moving image on a television screen or monitor, or a still image in a photograph

Working with pastels can be messy and difficult, but rewarding

Activities:
Watch, discuss, critique, and analyze specific images and information in selected segments of the docudrama Degas and the Dancer.
• Pay special attention to core values: responsibility, respect, integrity, and excellence.
• What are some things that Degas could have done differently to have been a better friend and, perhaps, a more successful artist during his own lifetime?

Read and discuss essays and images about and by Edgar Degas (books are on the 2nd Grade Resource Shelf in the Visual Arts Studio)

Draw images one sees in the video, especially the dancers, Degas, and other humans

Photograph one another using the digital still cameras and copy the images using pastels and paper.

Make sketchbooks and pose for one another—draw with pencil and eraser

Discussion: compare and contrast the three drawing experiences

Follow-up activities:
Choose a drawing from one’s sketchbook and make a final draft on 90-pound paper—color using chalk or oil pastels
Use the still-life objects to create a simple but interesting composition on 90-pound paper—color using chalk or oil pastels


Vocabulary:
pastel— a paste made of powdered pigment and gum Arabic made into crayons or sticks
Impressionism— an art (and music) movement, especially of late 19th- and early 20th-century France, that concentrated on the general effect produced by a subject without elaboration of details
pastel— a paste made of powdered pigment and gum Arabic made into crayons or sticks
gum arabic -- a sticky substance taken from some acacia trees and used as an ingredient in adhesives, confectionery, and medicines; also called gum acacia (From: Encarta® World English Dictionary © 1999 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Developed for Microsoft by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.)
oeuvre – French for “work,” as in “body of work,” in particular; used to indicate a group of artistic compositions that have something in common