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Lot Essay
In October 1890 Degas embarked on a trip by horse and carriage with the sculptor Paul Bartholom to visit Pierre-Georges Jeanniot, a mutual friend, in his home in Burgundy. Jeanniot had a printing press, and soon after he arrived Degas began to make landscape monotypes in oil, which he then reworked with pastel. In the spring and summer of 1892 Degas crossed France by train and made a trip to Geneva to visit his brother; these travels led to the production of more landscapes. Degas decided to exhibit them at Galerie Durand-Ruel in the fall of 1892. It was a notable event, for Degas, although famous, had not shown publicly as part of a group show or solo since the final Impressionist group exhibition in 1886.
The landscapes met with a favorable reception. Many of his friends and his reviewers praised the apparent imaginary nature of these views. They seemed less like depictions of observed nature than expressions of "states of mind." When his friend Ludovic Halevy asked if these works were "a reflection" of his soul, Degas replied with characteristic bluntness " a reflection of my eyesight. We painters do not use such pretentious language!" (quoted in J.S. Boggs, "The Late Years 1890-1912", Degas, exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1988, p. 502).
Richard Kendall has identified the present pastel as one of a couple of subsequent experiments in landscape, which dispenses with the monotype underlayer common the works in the Durand-Ruel exhibition. The artist's palette gives the impression of a wintry scene, and the layered spacing of sky and landscape forms lends the work a simple, even minimalist abstract aspect. "Distinctive as technical essays, these works stand as isolated exceptions, and it was not until the second half of the 1890s that Degas returned whole-heartedly to the landscape" (Ibid., p. 238).
The landscapes met with a favorable reception. Many of his friends and his reviewers praised the apparent imaginary nature of these views. They seemed less like depictions of observed nature than expressions of "states of mind." When his friend Ludovic Halevy asked if these works were "a reflection" of his soul, Degas replied with characteristic bluntness " a reflection of my eyesight. We painters do not use such pretentious language!" (quoted in J.S. Boggs, "The Late Years 1890-1912", Degas, exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1988, p. 502).
Richard Kendall has identified the present pastel as one of a couple of subsequent experiments in landscape, which dispenses with the monotype underlayer common the works in the Durand-Ruel exhibition. The artist's palette gives the impression of a wintry scene, and the layered spacing of sky and landscape forms lends the work a simple, even minimalist abstract aspect. "Distinctive as technical essays, these works stand as isolated exceptions, and it was not until the second half of the 1890s that Degas returned whole-heartedly to the landscape" (Ibid., p. 238).