Degas

The Biographic 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 all of them in vivid snapshots. 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 events alongside other points of interest. Flow-charts and bubble-diagrams show working processes and styles, while character traits are illuminated by visual comparisons. 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.