I.Overview
Degas, a very famous impressionist artist of the 19th century, was a painter and sculptor,. He produce various artworks that reflected his contemporary society. He is an artist that always represented his subjects 'in action'. One of his famous collections is the dancers series that he painted during the late 1800s.
I wanted to bring to life or to 'action' one of the ballerina scenes, The Dance Foyer at the Opera on the rue Le Peletier painted by Degas in 1872. I was interested in the different layers of movement that can happen at the same time that are often missed when looking at a static painting.
II. Process: the painting
This famous Degas painting fascinates me. Dressed in white, Louis-Alexandre Mérante, the first ballet master, sets the pace with his baton, while explaining the rest of the choreography to the young dancer with the black ribbon.
To his right, a violinist awaits the signal to resume. On either side of the mirror housed in a neoclassical arcade, a swarm of young girls in white tutus are resting. Some are applied, others are talking, reading a sign or looking out the window. It’s so beautiful outside… It’s summer, as evidenced by a white handkerchief and the red fan on a chair. Located in the extension of the auditorium.
Edgar Degas seeks movement, grace and even more so the expression of faces. Each has a different attitude.
I wanted bring to life these various elements and attitudes in the painting.
II. Process: the work
I bought a frame for normal pictures and a digital photo album.
Using Adobe Photoshop I animated the characters and exported the looped video on a usb .
After gluing the digital album to the frame I inserted the usb and turned it on.
