Degas: Trke

The book is part of the Yugoslav series Mala umetnička enciklopedia (volume 67), a popular edition of small pocket monographs on modern artists (9 pages of text plus 15 pages with reproductions). The text is by Frank Elgar, a French art critic and publicist known for his series of monographs on impressionists and modern artists in that edition.

The book focuses on the motif of horse racing in the work of Edgar Degas (1834–1917), one of the greatest impressionists and masters of movement. In the 1860s and 1870s, Degas often painted horse racers on racetracks (Longchamp, Chantilly), trainers, jockeys and galloping horses, using photographs by Eadweard Muybridge as inspiration for realistic depictions of dynamics and speed. The emphasis is on his precise anatomy of horses, compositions from unusual angles, the play of light and shadow, and the transition from a realistic to an impressionistic approach.

The illustrations include 15 color reproductions of key pastels, oils, and prints with a racing theme: horses in motion, the start of a race, the crowd, and racecourse landscapes.