THE BIG SALE IS ON! TELL ME MORE

Close Notification

Your cart does not contain any items

Degas and His Model

Alice Michel Jeff Nagy

$17.99

Paperback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

QTY:

English
David Zwirner
01 September 2017
Series: Ekphrasis
"Never before translated into English, the text's original publication in

Mercure de

France in 1919, shortly after the artist's death, has been treated as an important

account of the master sculptor at work. We know that Alice was writing under a

pseudonym, but who the real person behind this account was remains a mystery - to

this day nothing is known about her. Yet, the descriptions seem too accurate to be

ignored, the anecdotes too spot - on to discount; even the dialogue captures the

artist's tone and mannerisms.

What is found in these pages is at times a woman's flirtatious recollection of a bizarre

""artistic type"" and at others a moving attempt to connect with a great, often tragic

man. The descriptions are l impid, unburdened; the dialogue is lively and intimate,

not unlike reading the very best kind of gossip, with world - historical significance.

Here in these dusty studios, Degas is alive, running hands over clay, complaining

about his eyes, denigrating the o ther artists around him, and whispering salaciously

to his model. And during his mood swings, we see reflected the model's innocence

and confusion, her pain at being misunderstood and finally rejected. It is an intimate

portrait of a moment in a great arti st's life, a sort of

Bildungsroman in which his

model (whoever she may be) does not emerge unscatheded"

By:  
Text by:  
Imprint:   David Zwirner
Country of Publication:   United States
Dimensions:   Height: 177mm,  Width: 106mm, 
Weight:   80g
ISBN:   9781941701553
ISBN 10:   1941701558
Series:   Ekphrasis
Pages:   88
Publication Date:  
Audience:   General/trade ,  ELT Advanced
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active

Alice Michel is the pseudonym used by the unknown author of Degas and His Model. Jeff Nagy is a translator, critic, and historian of technology based in Palo Alto, California. His research focuses on networks pre- and post-Internet and the development of digital labor.

Reviews for Degas and His Model

"""amusing, memorable books""--Jonathon Sturgeon ""Artnet"" ""The books in the series seem designed to slip into your back pocket - slim, spartan, and compact, sporting uniform covers consisting solely of typeface in black or white, with a matching horizontal bar across the top, against a solid color.""--Thomas Micchelli ""Hyperallergic"" ""Degas and His Model, for a short book (just 58 pages), is rich in incident and secondary characters...""--Thomas Micchelli ""Hyperallergic"" ""[Degas and His Model] is a curious text to evaluate, the more so when rendered into American English, with Degas as 'cranky and demanding old buzzard', an 'old nutjob', and so on.""--Julian Barnes ""London Review of Books"""


See Also