I don't often read non-fiction biographies or memoirs but this book caught my eye last month when my oldest daughter and I went to this art museum for the afternoon. I happened to see the book in the gift shop and thought my youngest....our youngest who studied ballet from age 3-22 and who was en pointe from age 12 until graduating from UNH, would enjoy reading it and adding it to her collection. One of the bronze sculptures that Degas did is standing in a room devoted to "the little dancer" at the museum mentioned above. Of course we saw the original at the Musee D'Orsay in Paris when we were there in 2010. No one knew her name until this author did her research.
SUMMARY OF BOOK
She is famous all around the world. She stands in Paris, London, Washington, D.C New York, Desden, Copenhagen.
We only know her age, and the work that she did......it was very grueling work at the age when children of today are going off to school. We do not know where her grave is.
In the 1880s, she danced as a "little rat" at the Paris Opera.....many little girls dreamed of this but this wasn't a dream of hers. She was fired after many years of intense work. The director of the Ballet was tired of her many absences. She had been working another job...and sometimes even two....because the Opera only paid a few pennies and that wasn't enough for her and her family to live on. She was a model...she posed for sculptors and painters and we know one of them was the very famous Impressionist painter/sculptor Degas.
MY THOUGHTS
This book fascinated me in many parts but also bored me throughout most of Chapter 2 were it got very technical regarding the art and Degas and other painters or sculptors. The part that most fascinated me was learning her name, learning about her family and home life. I found it fascinating that she was considered to be "less than" by most French people. I learned alot about the prejudice and racism and class levels at that time in Paris. Some of her story made me very sad for her.
The most interesting part and the part that moved quickly for me was the last chapter (chapter 3) as well as the end of the book where the author shares her thoughts and research. I enjoyed reading what she found out about Marie and about her own great grandmother.
When i bought the book, I thought it was going to be more of a biography but it was actually more about Degas and the styles and mores from that culture, along with research about Marie and her family. Some of it I did have to skim over (in Chapter 2) as it just was dull to me. I guess my artist daughter (the oldest) and the ballerina daughter would appreciate it more than I did.
In my opinion, this book is appropriate for ages 17 and older.
On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest, I rate this an 8.
1 comment:
Sounds like she had a very hard life for one so young.
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