21 novembro, 2008

Degas


I've always loved the work of Edgar Degas, the french artist of the end of the 19th century. In Madrid, in the Fundación Mapfre (Paseo de Recoletos, 23) you can see an exhibition (until January the 6th) of some of his works, mainly studies, sketches and bronze sculptures of ballet dancers and horses. It's all about movement...
Very interesting is Nicholas Nixon's foto serie The Brown Sisters, now belonging to Mapfre foundation, exhibited in the lower level of the building. You can follow the aging process of four women (the artists wife and her three sisters) from 1975 up to 2007. One picture for every year, totalling 33. Weight gain, wrinckles, white hair...The body changes (and the clothes, the hairstyles...), but the way in which each one of them faces the camera stays the same.
While looking at the pictures, a spanish man started talking to me saying «they would never let me do this...», with a smile in his face. It took me a while to figure out what he was saying (referring to his wife, I suppose). I must haved looked at him in a awkward way, because he patted my arm and left. I'm a very slow reactor in these situations....

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