Bookshelves, Study for ‘Edmond Duranty’ (1879)

Welcome to an exploration of Edgar Degas's "Bookshelves, Study for ‘Edmond Duranty’" (1879), a captivating work that offers a glance into the intricate studies leading to one of Degas's celebrated paintings. This delicate sketch beautifully captures a corner of intellectual retreat, presumably a segment of Edmond Duranty's study or library.In the artwork, Degas employs soft yet assured charcoal lines to depict a series of densely packed bookshelves. These shelves are brimming with volumes of varying thicknesses and heights, suggesting a collection rich in content and diversity. The arrangement of the books and subtle shading suggest the depth and texture of the spines, evoking the tangible feel of well-thumbed pages housed within.A fascinating element of this study is the stack of books that protrudes onto what appears to be a tabletop, disrupting the strict vertical lines of the shelves. This features a couple of open volumes, prominently displaying a sense of motion or recent activity, as if someone has just paused their reading to attend to other matters.This sketch not only highlights Degas's attention to detail and his skill in using light and shadow to create depth but also evokes a sense of quietude and scholarly ambiance, characteristic of Duranty's intellectual environment. The somber tones and focus on geometric arrangement lend the piece a meditative quality, making it a profound reflection on the solitary pursuit of knowledge."Bookshelves, Study for ‘Edmond Duranty’" invites us to ponder the unseen moments of thought and study behind literary and artistic creation, providing a window into the private world of a thinker surrounded by the tools of his intellect.