Edgar Degas: Imprisoned impressions



(Degas Self-Portrait, 1855)

Although Degas preferred to be thought of as a realist rather than an Impressionist - when it came to religion, he eventually tended to favor prejudicial impressions over reality.

According to Insider Trading: Degas’ Most Anti-Semitic

Painting at princeton.edu - Degas’ 1879 painting, At the

Bourse, exemplifies Degas’ anti-Semitism.  In this scene at the French stock exchange, Degas depicts what looks to be like a secret interchange between Jewish banker Ernest May and M. Bolatre.  Degas’ caricature-like portrayal of May’s face stereotypically includes “a hooked nose, bulging eyes, and pursed lips.”  Worse yet, May appears to be in cahoots with Bolatre regarding some kind of illicit insider trading.

Had Degas simply relegated his anti-Semitism to this one portrayal, his warped impressions might not have been as dangerous.  Unfortunately however, his hatred of Jews (and sometimes Protestants, too) extended far beyond his paintbrush.  He became a part of the virulent anti-Dreyfusard movement - and began shunning all Jews, both personally and professionally.

The anti-Dreyfusard movement was part of the Dreyfus affair.  This political scandal took place in the 1890s to early 1900s, and sharply divided the French people.  In 1894, Captain Alfred Dreyfus was falsely indicted for treason - his major underlying “crime,” in the eyes of many anti-Semites like Degas, was that he was of Alsatian-Jewish descent (from one of the oldest Jewish settlements in Europe, dating back to circa 1000 CE).  As a result of this indictment, Dreyfus was sentenced to lifetime solitary confinement in a penal colony at Devil’s Island in French Guiana.

Because of an intense outcry from prominent French activists (such as famed writer Emile Zola, who risked

his career by publishing an open letter of protest titled J’Accuse), Dreyfus was finally brought back to Paris for a trial.  According to Wikipedia, it took another seven years for Dreyfus to be “exonerated and reinstated as a major in the French Army.”  Degas, on the other hand, remained essentially imprisoned by his own hatred.

Resources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Degas

http://blogs.princeton.edu/wri1523/f05/eharwood/insider_trading_degas_most_antisemitic_

painting.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Jews_in_Alsace

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%27accuse_(letter)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreyfus_affair

Copyright July 19, 2011 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved