Shop art print and framed art Un bureau de coton à la Nouvelle-Orléans by Edgar Degas

The Cotton Office in New Orleans (or Portraits in an Office, New Orleans) is an oil on canvas painted by Edgar Degas in 1873. The painting measures 73 cm high by 92 cm wide and is kept at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Pau. It is a group portrait of some of Degas's maternal family." This painting is a group portrait, but also and above all a family portrait. In 1873, Degas travelled to New Orleans to meet some of his family, merchants living there. Once there, the members of his family asked him for portraits. It was against this backdrop that he decided to paint a collective portrait, thus renewing the genre and making it possible to identify almost all the characters, each one depicted in a characteristic activity". In the foreground, seated on a chair, is Degas's uncle (his mother's brother), Musson. He is the owner of the business, the father of the family. The figure reading is Musson's nephew, Degas's brother. The figure on the right, filling in a register, is one of Musson's employees. Further to the left, at the level of the two figures chatting around the table, the man holding the cotton wool is Musson's son-in-law, married to his daughter. The man in the light-coloured jacket is Musson's business partner, James Prestige. The man leaning against the partition on the left is Degas's second brother. The figures in the background are mostly employees. Degas chose the theme of cotton because it was a great discovery for him. Indeed, before his trip, he had never seen [...]

 

This artwork is a painting from the modern period. It belongs to the impressionism style.

 

« Un bureau de coton à la Nouvelle-Orléans » is kept at Musee des Beaux-Arts, Pau, France.

 

Find the full description of Un bureau de coton à la Nouvelle-Orléans by Edgar Degas on Wikipedia.