St. Augustine’s Lightner Museum hosts Edgar Degas: The Private Impressionist – Works on Paper by the Artist and His Circle
April 12 – June 16.
This special exhibit is a rare look at the works of pioneering artist Edgar Degas, one of the leading lights of the 19th-century art scene. Degas is best known for his enchanting paintings of ballet dancers on and off the stage. But little is widely known about the enigmatic artist’s life and personality. Featuring over 50 original works by Degas, The Lightner Museum in St. Augustine, offers unique insights into Degas’ inner world and the opportunity to see rarely exhibited works from the private collection of curator Robert Flynn Johnson.
Through Degas’ art, his words, and the circle of his friends and colleagues represented in the exhibition, the private persona of this elusive artist may emerge. Johnson’s private collection of drawings, prints, photographs, monotypes, and sculpture includes three unique self-portraits of the artist himself as well as Degas portraits of family members and fellow artists such as Mary Cassatt and Édouard Manet, just to name a few. Included are works on paper by Cassatt and Manet along with etchings and prints by many other famous members of Degas’ artistic circle.
Works by Jean Leon Gerome, Honore Daumier, Pierre Puvis de Chavanne, Jean Everett Millais, Jean-Auguste Dominique Ingres, Alfred Stevens, Camille Pissarro, Gustave Moreau, Paul Cézanne and Eadweard Muybridge offer a fascinating look at the artist’s life and times. The exhibit also features a collection of beautifully colored monotype prints commissioned by Degas’ art dealer Ambroise Vollard, never before shown alongside Degas’ work.
A fully illustrated catalog written by Degas scholar and Curator of the Royal Academy of Art, Ann Dumas accompanies the exhibit.
Tickets to the Edgar Degas: The Private Impressionist are $5 in addition to the price of general admission $15 for adults, and $12 for college students, active military and Seniors (65+). Youth ages 12 – 17 are $8 and children 11 and under are free. The Lightner Museum is open daily from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. The museum is located in the heart of St. Augustine’s historic district at 75 King Street.
The Lightner Museum is housed in the former Alcazar Hotel built in 1888 by Henry Flagler. Today it is home to one of the premier collections of fine and decorative 19th-century art in the country. The Museum is open to the public seven days a week and features self-guided tours, tours by reservation for adults and children, and demonstrations of antique mechanical musical instruments. The Lightner Museum is a non-profit cultural institution sustained by the generous support of individuals, businesses and sponsors. For more information on programs and events happening at the Lightner Museum visit LightnerMuseum.org. Follow the Lightner Museum on Instagram @lightner_museum and Twitter @lightner_museum. So be sure to add it to your list when you visit St. Augustine.
This exhibition was organized by Landau Traveling Exhibitions, Los Angeles, CA in association with Denenberg Fine Arts, West Hollywood, CA. Landau Traveling Exhibitions (LTE) organizes and circulates exhibition to and for museums, universities, arts organizations, foundations, and private collections. The Landau family has been active in the international art world for more than 50 years. Over the past 40 years, LTE has presented more than 500 exhibitions throughout the United States, Canada, and the world.