Tags: men, fluff, newspaper, high hat, wooden furniture, white doors, clutter, basket of letters, glass
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Bruno March 3, 2021
The shape and color scheme of the chair are good!
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Bruno March 3, 2021
The painting "The New Orleans Cotton Office", also known as" Portraits in the Office", was the first work of Degas to enter the public collection. Thanks to the initiative of Alphonse Cherfils, in 1878 the canvas was purchased for the art museum by its curator for 2000 francs. Prior to this, the artist had made several unsuccessful attempts to sell the painting, despite its warm reception at the second Impressionist exhibition, held two years earlier. Indeed, "Portraits in the Office" differed not [Expand]
only from the rest of the exhibited works, but also from other works of Degas, due to its realism and the theme of the work of the manufactory. The story of the painting begins at the end of 1872, when Degas decides to visit his relatives who have settled in the New World. After making several unsuccessful portraits in poor lighting conditions, the artist found a very good idea to paint the interior of an office selling cotton. Some of the characters in the picture are easily recognizable. The elderly man in the foreground, carefully checking the sample, is Michel Mousson, Degas ' maternal uncle. Behind him are his two brothers-in-law: Rene, the artist's brother, reading the local daily newspaper, and William Bell, sitting on the edge of the table and pictured in profile. To the left, Ashil Degas, the artist's other brother, stands cross-legged and leaning against the counter. On the right, his nose buried in a thick registry is the cashier John Livadi. The man in the beige coat perched on the chair behind Rene Degas is James Prestidge, Michel Mousson's partner. The artist returns to the formula that he first used three years earlier in the painting "Orchestra at the Opera", using a group portrait: with Michel Monsoon here, and Desiree Dihau in the foreground there. However, in an effort to bring an American "flavor" to the picture and show the intense activity of a crowd of brokers and cotton merchants within a typical New World office, Degas emphasizes the strong contrast between the black suits of employees and the white color of shirts, papers and, especially, cotton. This distinction is emphasized by the soft background of pale green walls, ceiling, and rosewood. The floor has a brighter hue, and a few enlivening touches of the wonderful still life on the right (papers in the basket, letters and registers on the table) dilute the predominance of black and white in the central part of the picture. There is nothing casual about the composition, and the elevated perspective allowed the rather cramped confines of the office to be expanded to accommodate fourteen people at various jobs without crowding them too much. In this way, the artist presented an effectively clean and clear image of the family business, fussy but orderly, backed up by the smooth glossy surface of the paint and the precise principles of Dutch painting. The presence in the office of Achille and Renee, completely inactive among their hard-working American friends, opaquely hints at Parisian insouciance and panache.
Tags: people, men, newspaper, work, office, hats, furniture, vanity
1
Tags: men, fluff, newspaper, high hat, wooden furniture, white doors, clutter, basket of letters, glass
2
The shape and color scheme of the chair are good!
3
The painting "The New Orleans Cotton Office", also known as" Portraits in the Office", was the first work of Degas to enter the public collection. Thanks to the initiative of Alphonse Cherfils, in 1878 the canvas was purchased for the art museum by its curator for 2000 francs. Prior to this, the artist had made several unsuccessful attempts to sell the painting, despite its warm reception at the second Impressionist exhibition, held two years earlier. Indeed, "Portraits in the Office" differed not [Expand]
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