Degas and America

AMERICAN COLLECTORS, CRITICS, AND ARTISTS played a key role in introducing Degas's art to the United States. Featuring reproductions of well-known masterpieces and little-known treasures, Degas and America celebrates the artistic savvy of the Americans who helped make impressionism the most popular movement in modern art. Although Degas believed that French art should remain in France, visionary private collectors and public institutions in America were among the first to appreciate his genius. Early taste for Degas in America embraced his work in all media -- oils, pastels, drawings, prints, and sculpture. Published to accompany an exhibition organized by the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, this book focuses on works exhibited or acquired in the United States at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth centuries. Although other books have dealt with specific aspects of Degas's reception in America, Degas and America covers the artist's complete career as viewed from these shores. Essays by an impressive group of scholars explain how the early collectors of Degas's work helped to shape his career and our image of the artist.