Discover Degas & Miss La La

Abstract

Edgar Degas's Miss La La at the Cirque Fernando (1879) is one of only two paintings by the artist representing people of colour. Miss La La, born Anna Olga Brown to a white Prussian mother and African-American emancipated slave father, was a renowned performer of extraordinary daring in fin-de-siècle Paris.Exploring the fascinating story behind Degas's painting, this is the first in-depth study to focus on the sitter's identity, presenting new research on her life and career, as well as unpublished photographic material tracing her tour across Europe. The book also analyses the genesis of Degas's work, from his rapid sketches completed on the spot to his more elaborate preparatory drawings and pastels.The son of a Creole mother from New Orleans, Degas travelled to Louisiana in 1872/73, which was to have a lasting impact on his art. This book examines the artist's complex attitudes to ethnicity in relation to his own family background, and the representation of multiracial people in late nineteenth-century France. Exhibition: National Gallery, London, UK (06.06-07.09.2024).

Contents

Director's foreword -- Preface / Denise Murrell and Isolde Pludermacher -- Paris, 1879: Degas and Miss La La / Anne Robbins -- The artist, the writer and the aerialist / Chiara Di Stefano -- Seeing black and white and colour / Darcy Grimaldo Grigsby -- Miss La La in Toronto / Christopher Riopelle -- Catalogue -- Miss La La: background and success / Laurie Fierstein -- The Cirque Fernando / Chiara Di Stefano -- Watching, drawing, posing Miss La La / Anne Robbins -- Degas and 'the Black World' / Darcy Grimaldo Grigsby -- Miss La La in Britain / Christopher Riopelle.