Portrait of Edgar Degas in profile 1886

Editor: Here we have Michel Manzi’s "Portrait of Edgar Degas in profile," made around 1886. It's a delicate watercolor piece, very subtle in its tones. It strikes me as quite a formal portrait, but with a hint of the artist’s personality peeking through. What’s your take on this work? Curator: It's interesting to see Degas, often a portrayer himself, become the subject. Considering the Impressionist era’s focus on capturing fleeting moments, this profile presents a fascinating contradiction: it’s both an intimate glimpse and a carefully constructed representation of bourgeois masculinity. Does the composition, specifically the profile view, evoke for you a sense of distance, or perhaps introspection? Editor: I see both, actually! There's a distance because we're not meeting his gaze, but the delicate details also suggest intimacy. It makes me think about the role of the male artist within the Parisian social structure at that time. Curator: Precisely! The top hat, the neat beard, all speak to a particular societal positioning. Yet, Manzi’s impressionistic style, prioritizing capturing light and form over meticulous detail, challenges those very notions of fixed identity. How does that tension speak to contemporary debates surrounding representation, especially male identity? Editor: That's a great point. It makes you question the power dynamics inherent in portraiture, even when the sitter is another artist. This idea that identity isn't fixed but something fluid and actively created... I hadn't considered it that way before. Curator: It's a conversation the Impressionists were subtly having, engaging with modernity’s reframing of personhood. Perhaps revisiting some feminist analyses of the period could offer more nuanced interpretations of such images. Editor: Definitely! This has given me so much to think about regarding Impressionism and its subtle socio-political layers. Thank you!