Edgar Degas captures the character of the modern age

Fri 17 Jul 2026

Two lithographs after Edgar Degas (19 July 1834–1917) introduce two themes of interest to the great French impressionist — horse racing, and capturing his subjects in natural or unguarded moments.

Images of horse racing were a primary focus for Degas throughout his career. The spectacle of the race itself was a relatively modern phenomenon in France in the mid to late 1800s.

The Hippodrome de Longchamp in the Bois de Boulogne in the outskirts of Paris opened in 1857 (illustrated), with its spring racing season becoming an important event in the social calendar of Parisian society, and the movement, colour and glamour of Longchamp became the subject matter for Degas’s equestrian scenes, which typified a modern urban landscape of leisure and novelty.

Hippodrome de Longchamp, 1857

(after Edgar Degas) Georges William Thornley Les Jockeys c.1888-89

In the mid 1880s, Degas became involved with a number of professional printers working in Paris. Notable among them was lithographer Georges William Thornley (2 May 1857–1935), and his Les Jockeys (The jockeys) c.1888–89 is a copy in reverse after Degas’s pastel drawing Before the race c.1887–89, in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio (illustrated).

It is a proof ‘before letters’, signed by both Degas and Thornley, and was published in Quinze lithographies d’après Degas (1889) by Boussod, Valadon & Cie (19 Boulevard Montmatre, Paris) in 1889, in an edition of 100 impressions (plus 25 proofs).

Edgar Degas Before the Race c.1887–89

Le Bain (The tub) c.1888 is after Degas’s pastel drawing Le tub 1886, in the collection of Hill-Stead Museum in Farmington, Connecticut (illustrated), and was made for the same portfolio. The print is signed, on the stone, by Thornley and inscribed with the publication details, including the publisher’s name and address and the printer, ‘Becquet’, a Parisian printing studio established in the 1830s.

(after Edgar Degas) Georges William Thornley Le Bain c.1888

From the 1880s on, Degas became increasingly focused on the figure in his compositions. Known for his realist tendencies, an essential part of the artist’s work was his attempt to capture people in natural or unguarded moments. In a significant series of pastels created in the 1880s, Degas depicted women bathing or at their toilette.

In these works, Degas rejected the conventional poses of the academic nude and showed the figure ‘preoccupied with herself’, as though unaware of being observed. These prints by Thornley reveal Degas’s extraordinarily modern attitude towards how his work should be viewed, reproduced and distributed.

Edgar Degas The tub 1886

Le Bain makes an interesting partner to the superb bronze sculpture Danseuse regardant la plante de son pied droit (Dancer looking at the sole of her right foot) c.1882-1900 in the QAGOMA Collection. Both depict a woman ‘caught unawares’ in an unusual pose. Both print and sculpture are intriguing examples of Degas’s ambivalent attitude to female beauty, as well as his interest in suggesting, through unconventional viewpoints, the character of the modern age.

Edgar Degas Danseuse regardant la plante de son pied droit c.1882-1900

(Dancer looking at the sole of her right foot, fourth study) c.1882-1900 is on display in the International Art Collection
Queensland Art Gallery
Galleries 7, 8 & 9 (Philip Bacon Galleries)

Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA)
Brisbane, Australia