Customer Reviews

Degas by Himself (Artist by Himself)

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This is truly a wonderful series of art books, but unfortunately the Time Warner editions are mere shadows of the originals. The letters are interesting enough if you are already familiar with Degas and some of the circles that he inhabited, but if not it will be terribly disorientating. The reason most people will want to buy this book is for the abundant number of reproductions, but unfortunately this Time Warner edition is a very small book, with mainly post card sized illustrations. What is more, over a hundred pages (and therefore around a hundred illustrations) have been cropped to fit this smaller edition. By all means get the Little Brown Books edition!! It is out of print but still available through the Amazon marketplace or eBay. I was sorely disappointed with this version, expecting it to be twice as big and a hundred pages thicker.

I'm a professional artist so I buy a lot of art books. I received this book as a gift from an aunt and was amazed at how readable it is. there are plenty of art books with photos you want to pour over again and again, but I have found very few that are actually worthy of "reading", and fewer still as enjoyable as a good novel. This book, mostly through DeGas' own letters, relays his travels and struggles, loneliness and constant eye problems.

I was a fan of "DeGas the artist" before reading this book, but since reading it several years ago, I've felt as if he's a dear old friend as well.