Artwork Page for Before the Race

Details / Information for Before the Race

Before the Race

c. 1887–89

Edgar Degas

(French, 1834–1917)
Culture
France, 19th century
Medium
pastel with charcoal underdrawing on tracing paper mounted on cardboard
Support
Tracing paper mounted to cardboard
Measurements
Sheet: 57.5 x 65.4 cm (22 5/8 x 25 3/4 in.)
Credit Line
Bequest of Leonard C. Hanna Jr. 1958.27
Catalogue raisonné
Lemoisne 755
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
Print
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Did You Know?

When creating the series to which this pastel belongs, Edgar Degas was inspired by the 19th-century photographer Eadweard Muybridge, who attempted to record motion in static images.

Description

Degas returned to the theme of horse and rider time and again throughout his career. Scholars believe that he executed the first version of this composition of four jockeys on horseback in a charcoal and pastel drawing. Several years later, he traced the composition, reversing its orientation to create the highly finished Cleveland pastel. The palette is intensified, the distance between the second and third jockeys is increased, and the foliage along the horizon has been added to suggest a lush spring day.
A square pastel drawing depicts four jockeys on horses and clustering haphazardly toward the left side of the page. The far-left jockey faces us, his horse's head extending beyond the page. The jockey next to him faces our right and the other two jockeys our left. They wear vibrant blue, yellow, and orange jackets and the horses stand on fine strokes of grass, bushy green trees behind them overtaken with blurred strokes.

Before the Race

c. 1887–89

Edgar Degas

(French, 1834–1917)
France, 19th century

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