Hilaire Germain Edgard Degas

DEGAS, HILAIRE GERMAIN EDGARD French painter, was born in Paris on July 19, 1834 and died there on Sept. 27, 1917. He studied under Lamothe and Ingres at the Ecole des Beaux Arts, and first exhibited in the Salon of 1865, contributing a "War in the middle ages," a work executed in pastel. To this medium he was ever faithful, using it for some of his best work. But he soon turned to subjects from contem porary life. He exhibited "Steeplechase" (1866), "Family Por traits" (1867) and a portrait of a dancer in the "Ballet of La Source" (1868). In 1869 and 187o he restricted himself to portraits ; but thenceforward he abandoned the salons and at tached himself to the Impressionists. With Manet and Monet he took the lead of the new school at its first exhibition in 1874, and repeatedly contributed to these exhibitions (in 1876, 1878, 1879 and 188o). In 1868 he had shown his first study of a dancer, and in numerous pastels he proclaimed himself the painter of the ballet: He painted innumerable studies of dancers, showing an amazing mastery of drawing and of light. Several of his works may be seen at the Luxembourg Gallery, to which they were bequeathed among a collection of impressionist pictures by M. Caillebotte. In 188o Degas showed his powers of observation in a set of "Portraits of Criminals," and he attempted modelling in a "Dancer," in wax. He afterwards returned to his studies of the sporting world, exhibiting in Dec. 1884 at the Petit Gallery two views of "Races" which had a great success, proving the increasing vogue of the artist among collectors. At the eighth Impressionist Exhibition, in 1886, Degas continued his realistic studies of modern life, showing drawings of the nude, of work women, and of jockeys. Besides his pastels and his paintings of genre and portraits—among these, several likenesses of Manet Degas also handled his favourite subjects in etching and in aqua tint ; and executed several lithographs of "Singers at Cal es concerts," of "Ballet-girls," and indeed of every possible subject of night-life and incidents behind the scenes. His work is to be seen not only at the Luxembourg but in many of the great private collections in Paris, in England and America. In the Centenary Exhibition of 19oo he exhibited "The Interior of a Cotton Broker's Office at New Orleans" and "The Rehearsal." See also G. Moore, "Degas, the Painter of Modern Life," Magazine of Art (189o) ; J. K. Huysmans, Certains (1889) ; G. Geffroy, La Vie Artistique (3e Serie, 1894) ; J. B. Manson, The Life and Work of Degas (192 7) ; Ambroise Vollard, Degas (trans. R. T. Weaver, 1928) .

DE GEER, JONKHEER DIEK JAN

Dutch statesman, was born on Dec. 15, 187o, and graduated doc tor at Groningen. He was a barrister and a journalist by profes sion. Entering the second chamber in 1907, he became one of the leaders of the Christian Historical Union. He was burgomaster of Arnheim (192o-22), finance minister (1921-23), and in March 1926 became prime minister, retaining for himself the portfolio of finance. The new Government was a minority Government, and put forward a moderate programme of retrenchment, disarma ment, and the promotion of native participation in the govern ment of the East Indies.

DE GEER, LOUIS GERHARD, BARON

Swedish statesman and writer, was born on July 18, 1818, at Finspang castle. In 1855 he became president of the Gota Hof ret, or lord justice of one of the Swedish supreme courts. From 1858 7o he was minister of justice. His greatest achievement was the reform of the Swedish representative system, whereby he substi tuted a bicameral elective parliament, on modern lines, for the existing cumbersome representation by estates, a survival from the later middle ages. This great measure was accepted by the Riksdag in Dec. 1865, and received the royal sanction on June 22, 1866. He retired from the ministry in 187o, but took office again, as minister of justice, in 2875. From 1876-80 he was minis ter of State, and from chancellor of the universities of Uppsala and Lund.

Besides several novels and aesthetic essays, De Geer wrote political memoirs of supreme merit both as to style and matter, the most notable of which are : Minnesteckning o f ver A. J. v. Hopken (1881) ; Minnesteckning diver Hans Jarta (1874) ; Min nesteckning of ver B. B. von Platen ; and his own Minnen (1892), an autobiography, invaluable as a historical document.

See Sveriges historia (1881, etc.) , vi. ; Carl Gustaf Malmstrom, Historiska Studier (1897) ; C. Arcadius, Louis de Geer (1906).