Life, Degas style

Marisa O’Neil

Art imitated life in the late 19th century for Andersen Elementary

School students Monday.

Sixth-graders gathered on the curved steps inside the school’s

sweeping library to see a presentation about French artist Edgar

Degas, famous for his depictions of ballet dancers as well as

everyday people. Along with analyzing the artistic merits of each

Degas work in the slide show, Poli Rizco from the Art Masters program

gave students a lesson on life during that era.

As she flashed a Degas painting of a woman ironing, she told them

that people in Paris at the time didn’t bathe every day, didn’t use

deodorant and often used cologne to mask the inevitable aroma of

wearing the same clothes day after day.

“What do you think those clothes smelled like?” Rizco asked.

“Lots of cologne,” 12-year-old Jack Cooper replied.

“Laundries smelled pretty bad” Rizco explained. “They were not

nice places to work. It’s not like they could just set up the ironing

board and watch ‘Oprah’ while they worked.”

Sixth-grader Nick Tripi had another concern about French women at

the turn of the last century.

“Didn’t some women also have beards and hairy legs?” he asked,

eliciting giggles from his classmates.

Turning the corner from personal hygiene, Rizco showed slides of

Degas’ famous pictures of dancers. The artist, she explained, had

unlimited access and did sketches during performances, backstage and

during rehearsals, giving people today a behind-the-scenes glimpse.

She explained the composition of the pictures, how Degas did his

sketches and what critics at the time thought of his art. The

students also learned that live musicians played music for rehearsals

-- no boom boxes back then -- and that dancers spread resin on floors

for better footing.

Through the Art Masters program, sponsored by Andersen’s PTA,

students follow up their lessons with a hands-on art class the

following day, applying techniques and concepts they learned in the

lecture. Instructors come to the school six times a year, focusing on

a different artist each time.

* IN THE CLASSROOM is a weekly feature in which Daily Pilot

education writer Marisa O’Neil visits a campus in the Newport-Mesa

area and writes about her experience.