Description
In this early Self-Portrait, a black hat and dark jacket frame Edgar Degas’s face. His head turns slightly to the right against gray paper, allowing the features to stand out through carefully placed contrasts. The drawing presents the young artist as a person encountered at close range, giving a quietly observant likeness more importance than an elaborate setting.
Completed by 1857, the sheet belongs to an early stage of Degas’s career. Its combination of dark marks and pale highlights makes drawing itself part of the encounter, as an observed face becomes a pattern of carefully placed emphasis. The portrait’s interest lies in that closeness between subject and maker. Degas appears both as the person being studied and as the artist deciding which qualities of that appearance will remain on the page.
Read our guide to giclée prints or browse the Edgar Degas collection.
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