Biographic : Degas

The Biographics series presents an entirely new way of looking at the lives of the world's greatest thinkers and creatives. It takes the 50 defining facts, dates, thoughts, habits, and achievements of each subject, and uses infographics to convey each of them in vivid snapshots. The result is a quickfire journey through truths and trivia that is the most entertaining way to follow in the footsteps of the men and women whose lives have most influenced our own.

Each Biographic title is designed to be as entertaining as it is informative. Timelines not only pinpoint significant dates, but set them in the context and culture of their times. Dynamic maps locate biographical waymarks alongside other points of interest. Flow-charts and bubble-diagrams depict working processes and styles, and character traits are illuminated by visual comparisons. Biographics blend the essential with the trivial. They paint portraits by numbers, which you seem to learn with your eyes and not your brain. Packed with facts, they are the essential guides to the paths that led to greatness.

Many people know that Edgar Degas (1834–1917) was a French artist and leading light of Impressionism, whose paintings brilliantly capture the movement of ballet dancers. What, perhaps, they don’t know is that by his mid-twenties he had made over 700 copies of other artists’ works; that he produced 1,500 studies of ballet dancers, one of which sold in 1999 for over £17 million; and that, although Degas exhibited only one sculpture in his lifetime, 150 wax figures were found in his studio after his death.

Biographic: Degas presents an instant impression of his life and work, with an array of irresistible facts and figures converted into infographics to reveal the artist behind the pictures.

About the Author

Katie Greenwood has a first-class honours degree in Art History and Visual Culture from Brighton University. She works researching and licensing visual content for publishers and digital platforms, has generated original book concepts and is a published author. Consultant Editor Dr Diana Newall, studied at the Courtauld Institute of Art and University College, University of London and has lectured for 12 years on a range of subjects.