Edgar Degas “Petite Danseuse de quatorze ans”

Edgar Degas Étude de nu pour la “Petite

Edgar Degas

Étude de nu pour la “Petite Danseuse de quatorze ans”

Danseuse de quatorze ans”

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Edgar Degas Étude de nu pour la “Petite

Danseuse de quatorze ans”

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Edgar Degas Étude de nu pour la “Petite

Danseuse de quatorze ans”

Bronze, dark brown and reddish brown patina Height: 72.5 cm. (28 3/8 in.)

Stamped with the foundry mark Cire Perdu A.A. Hébrard 56/HER D on the side of its base; inscribed with the signature Degas on top of the base Original wax model conceived between 1878 and 1880 Bronze cast between 1919 and 1937 by the Hébrard foundry in Paris, in a lettered edition of 20 casts marked A through T, two casts marked 56/HER (for the foundry; the original contract only authorised one of these), one cast marked 56/ HER.D (for the heirs of Degas; the present cast), and several unauthorised casts, including one marked MODÈLE (kept by Hébrard), one marked AP (for Albino Palazzolo, director of the Hébrard foundry), one unlettered cast later owned by Nelly Hébrard, and possibly others.

Provenance Adrien A. Hébrard, Paris.

The heirs of Edgar Degas, Paris.

Private Collection, Paris, since 1989; And by descent to the present owner.

Literature P. Gsell, “Edgar Degas, Statuaire”, in La Renaissance de l’art français et des industries de luxe, Paris, Dec. 1918 (another cast illus. p. 376).

P.-A. Lemoisne, “Les Statuettes de Degas”, in Art et Décoration, Paris, Sept.-Oct. 1919 (wax model illus. p. 112).

Catalogue Hébrard, Paris, 1921, no. 37 (another cast illus.).

G. Janneau, “Les Sculptures de Degas”, in Renaissance de l’art français et des industries de luxe, Paris, July 1921 (another cast illus. p. 352).

G. Bazin, “Degas Sculpteur”, L’Amour de l’Art, Paris, July 1931 (another cast illus. p. 294).

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J. Rewald, Degas: Works in Sculpture, A Complete Catalogue, New York, 1944, no. XIX (another cast illus. pp. 57-61).

L. Browse, Degas Dancers, Boston, 1949 (another cast illus. pl. 95).

P. Borel, Les Sculptures inédites de Degas: Choix de cires originales, Geneva, 1949 (wax model illus.).

J. Rewald, Degas Sculpture, New York, 1957, no. XIX (another cast illus. p. 144).

C.W. Millard, The Sculpture of Edgar Degas, Princeton, 1976 (wax model illus. pls. 23 and 24).

J. Rewald, The Complete Sculpture of Edgar Degas, Lefevre Gallery, London, 1976, pp.

14, 56 (another cast illus. no. 37).

J. and M. Guillaud, eds., Degas, Form and Space, Paris and New York, 1984, no. 154 (another cast illus. p. 178).

D. Sutton, Edgar Degas, Life and Work, New York, 1986, no. 170 (another cast illus. p. 186).

F. Minervino and S. de Naurois, Tout l’oeuvre peint de Degas, Paris, 1988, no. S37 (another cast illus. p. 142).

A. Roquebert, Degas, Paris, 1988 (another cast illus. fig. 61).

R. Thomson, Degas, les nus, Paris, 1988 (wax model illus. p. 123, fig. 112).

J. Sutherland Boggs et al, Degas, exh. cat., Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Paris; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1988-89 (another cast illus. pp. 349-50).

J. Rewald, Degas’ Complete Sculpture: A Catalogue Raisonne, San Francisco, 1990, no.

XIX (another cast illus. p. 76).

F. Hovart and A. Pingeot, Degas Sculptures, Paris, 1991, no. 37 (another cast illus. pp.

36, 37 and 171).

S. Campbell, “Degas: The Sculptures, A Catalogue Raisonne”, in Apollo, London, August 1995, no. 56 (another cast illus. p. 38).

R. Kendall, Degas and the Little Dancer, exh. cat., Joslyn Museum, Omaha; Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown; and The Baltimore Museum of Art, 1998-99 (another cast illus. pl. 39).

J.S. Czestochowski and A. Pingeot, Degas Sculptures, Catalogue Raisonné of the Bronzes, Memphis, 2002, no. 56, p. 231 (another cast illus.)

S. Glover Lindsay, D.S. Barbour and S.G. Sturman, Edgar Degas Sculpture, Washington, D.C., 2010, pp. 144-55, nos. 17 and 18 (another cast illus. p. 151).

J. Devonyar and R. Kendall, Degas and the Ballet: Picturing Movement, exh. cat., Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2011, pp. 72-85 (wax model illus. p. 77, fig. 30).

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Edgar Degas

Étude de nu pour la “Petite Danseuse de quatorze ans”

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Étude de nu pour la “Petite Danseuse de quatorze ans” belongs to Degas’ most beloved and celebrated theme: dancers at the Paris Opéra. The subject of dancers – on stage, during rehearsals, or resting between performances – had captured his interest early in his career, and sustained his attention throughout his life. When his great American patron Louisine Havemeyer asked Degas why he focused so singularly on the ballet, he replied “Because, madame, it is all that is left us of the combined movement of the Greeks” (quoted in A. Forge and F. Gordon, Degas, London, 1988, p. 264). Indeed, it was the figure in motion that fascinated Degas, and dancers provided him with a constant supply of moving forms. He explored the subject in a wide range of media: painting, drawing, pastel, sculpture, and even print. Like his contemporaries, Degas was aware of the work of early photographers such as Muybridge and Marey, and his sculptures of dancers in particular can be seen as a response to their photographic series. In 1895, it seems Degas even acquired a camera of his own (Devonyar and Kendall, op. cit., London, 2011, p. 186).

Degas was subject to criticism for his rejection of the idealising tendencies of the Academy in favour of an honest portrayal of his ballerina subjects, who were depicted as often in casual moments as during a performance. We see them stretch, yawn and slouch, and he frequently chose as his subjects gawky adolescents rather than elegant principal dancers. In Étude de nu pour la “Petite Danseuse de quatorze ans”, we see his young model standing in the

Self-portrait in Library (Portrait

same “casual fourth” position she adopts in the Petite Danseuse. The model

Bust in Background), 1895

is traditionally identified as Marie van Goethem (b. 17 Feb. 1864), based in

Gelatin silver print

part on an inscription on a drawing in which she is shown, from a variety

18.3 x 24.3 cm. (71/3 x 91/2 in.)

of perspectives, standing in this same pose. Relatively little is known about

Following spread:

Marie, who is believed to have posed for several other works by Degas

Eadweard Muybridge

around the same time, including La Classe de Dance (L.479; Philadelphia Museum of Art). She was the middle of three sisters, all of whom were enrolled as ballet students at the Opéra.

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‘Woman Dancing (Fancy)’, 1887 Plate 187 of Animal Locomotion Collotype 18.4 x 41.7 cm. (71/4 x 161/2 in.)

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“They call me the painter of dancers, not understanding that for me the dance is a pretext for…rendering movement.”

Edgar Degas

By 1882 she had evidently become well known as an artist’s model, earning a note in the Parisian daily L’Evénement: “Mlle Van Goeuthen [sic]…poses for painters. Therefore frequents the Brasserie des Martyrs and Le Rat Mort” (quoted in R. Kendall, op. cit., 1998, pp. 346-47). Degas made both clothed and nude studies of Marie, from all angles, apparently following his own written instructions in a sketchbook: “Make a suite [of drawings] of a dancer’s arm movements, or of legs that don’t move, turning around them oneself, etc…study from all perspectives, a figure or an object, it doesn’t matter which.”

The Petite Danseuse de quatorze ans, which evolved from this work, was the only sculpture ever exhibited by Degas during his lifetime, at the Sixth Salon des Impressionistes in 1881. It is universally regarded as Degas’s supreme achievement in sculpture, and one of the most innovative and significant sculptures of the modern era. Indeed, it prompted Renoir to declare Degas “the greatest living sculptor” (quoted in A. Vollard, Renoir: An Intimate Memoir, New York, 1925, p. 39). The figure was modelled in wax, like the Étude ­– Degas did not make any bronze casts during his lifetime – and embellished with a muslin tutu, real hair, and a satin ribbon. It was a considerable accomplishment for an artist who never trained as a sculptor.

Petite Danseuse was exhibited alongside works by Gauguin, Pissarro, Cassatt

Edgar Degas Classe de Ballet (Salle de Danse), c.1878 Oil on canvas

and Morisot, among others. Critical opinions were divided: some praised the naturalism of the figure’s appearance, standing just over a meter tall, while

81 x 76 cm. (31 /8 x 29 /8 in.)

others found this uncanny realism shocking: Marie was not a star dancer,

Philadelphia Museum of Art, USA

and she was dressed as though for class rather than for a performance.

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Critic Charles Ephrussi celebrated it as “a truly modern effort” while Nina

Edgar Degas Trois Études d’une Danseuse Nue,

de Villard predicted that it would become “the leading expression of a new

c. 1878 – 1879

art” (quoted in R. Kendall, op. cit., 1998, p. 45). The author and critic Joris-

Charcoal heightened with white chalk on grey wove paper 47.7 x 62.3 cm. (183/4 x 241/2 in.)

Private Collection

Edgar Degas

Karl Huysmans called the sculpture “the only truly modern initiative that I know of in sculpture, and declared “the fact is that at one fell swoop, M. Degas has overthrown the traditions of sculpture, as he has for a long time

Étude de nu pour la “Petite Danseuse de quatorze ans”

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been shaking up the conventions of painting”. He further observed that the young dancer seemed poised “to walk off her pedestal” (quoted in Boggs et al, op. cit., 1988, p. 343).

There are certain distinct differences between the Étude and Petite Danseuse, beyond the costume, that make this sculpture an autonomous work in its own right. Although the title “Study” suggests that the Étude was merely a preparatory work, the delicately modelled and refined surface of the wax original has led some scholars to suppose that it may have been intended as a gift to Mrs. Havemeyer. She had hoped to acquire the wax original of the Petite Danseuse (see S.G. Lindsay et al, op. cit., 2010, p. 144). It has also been pointed out, in a recent monograph on Degas’ sculpture published by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., that the position of the right foot in the Étude has been altered, and it is placed at a more diagonal angle than that of the Petite Danseuse. The authors continue: “The pose is more complex than the dressed figure’s. Her canted verticality and hipshot stance are more pronounced, with her torso subtly shifting position” (S.G. Lindsay et al, op. cit. p. 148). The Étude is approximately three-quarters the size of the Petite Danseuse.

Although Degas did not create bronze casts, he did cast three of his figures in plaster, possibly after his friend the sculptor Albert Bartholomé introduced him to Adrien-A. Hébrard and his Milanese foundry director Albino Palazzolo. Degas expressed reservations about the permanence of bronze, and the inability of an artist to make changes once the sculpture was cast, declaring: “It’s too much responsibility to leave behind you anything in bronze, that substance is one that lasts for eternity!” (quoted in A. Vollard, Degas (1834 – 1917), Paris, 1924, pp. 112-13). However, he never completely lost interest in the notion of working in bronze, and at certain moments he appeared to be on the brink of committing to a cast. Ambroise Vollard recalled one such dialogue with Degas: “One day he told me about a Danseuse (ballerina)…‘This time I think I have her. One or two more short sittings and Hébrard…will be able to come.’ The next day, I found the ballerina reduced to a ball of wax. Seeing my astonishment, he said, ‘You

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are thinking most of all, Vollard, about the value of the thing, but had you given me a hat full of diamonds, the happiness I have experienced could not rival the pleasure in destroying it, just to have the pleasure of starting it all over again.’” (quoted in A. Vollard, op. cit., pp. 112-13).

On 13 May 1918, nearly eight months after Degas’s death, his heirs signed a contract with Hébrard to cast twenty-two examples of each of the sculptures, with twenty sets available for sale, one set – the first, and, therefore, the finest set – reserved for the Degas heirs, and a set reserved for the foundry. (There were, in addition, several further unauthorised sets: one kept by Hébrard and marked “MODÈLE”, and an unknown number of “test” casts by Palazzolo marked “AP”, “FR MODÈLE” (founder’s model), “FR” (founder), and possibly others; see Czestochowski and Pingeot, op. cit., 2002, p. 15 for further information).

Edgar Degas La Petite Danseuse de Quatorze ans, c. 1878 – 1881 Pigmented beeswax, clay, metal armature, rope, paintbrushes, human hair, silk and linen ribbon, cotton faille bodice, cotton and silk tutu, linen slippers, on wooden base Overall without base 98.9 x 34.7 x 35.2 cm. (39 x 135/8 x 137/8 in.)

Collection of Mr. & Mrs. Paul Mellon National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Edgar Degas

Étude de nu pour la “Petite Danseuse de quatorze ans”

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Not all of Degas’ original models survived, as these were extremely fragile

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pieces crafted from a combination of pigmented wax and plastilene, a

Edgar Degas

non-drying modelling clay, sometimes constructed on a wire armature.

Étude d’une Danseuse Nue, c. 1878 – 1881

Fortunately, Palazzolo was able to preserve the surviving wax originals by

Black chalk and red charcoal on

employing a complex casting process in which a duplicate wax was created

mauve-pink laid paper

for each sculpture: “In Milan, Palazzolo had learned a method from the sculptor Barzagli [sic; it must be Francesco Barzaghi]. He covered the

48.1 x 30.6 cm. (19 x 12 in.)

National Gallery, Oslo

figurines with clay and then wrapped them entirely in plaster. When the

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plaster had dried, he opened it and replaced the clay with a special gel. The

Edgar Degas

gel fills the space between the model and the mold and hardens (without

Études de Danseuse, c. 1878 – 1881 Black chalk, conté crayon, and pink

heat so the wax does not melt). When the gel mold has hardened, it is

chalk, heightened with white chalk,

opened and the original removed, safe and sound. After a core is installed

on blue paper

to reinforce the piece, hot wax is poured into the mold. Once that had cooled, the copy of the original is removed. This is the copy that can be

47.5 x 62.8 cm. (183/4 x 243/4 in.)

The Morgan Library & Museum, Thaw Collection, New York

cast according to the classical “lost-wax process” with the added advantage of permitting a comparison between the bronze and the preserved original wax.” (Czestochowski and Pingeot, op. cit., 2002, p. 32).

Edgar Degas Quatre Études d’une Danseuse, c. 1878 – 1881 Chalk and charcoal heightened with

The resulting bronzes met with a mixed reception from the public, although Mary Cassatt wrote with great foresight to Mrs. Havemeyer “I have studied Degas’s bronzes for months. I believe he will live to be greater as a sculptor

grey wash and white on buff paper 49 x 31.7 cm. (191/3 x 121/2 in.)

Museé d’Orsay, Paris and Musée du Louvre, Paris

than as a painter.” This comment was presumably in Mrs. Havemeyer’s mind when she became the first to reserve a complete set of the bronze casts, set A.

Edgar Degas Cinq Études d’une Paire de Jambes (Études pour ‘La Petite Danseuse de Quatorze ans’), c. 1878 – 1881 Pencil, charcoal and pastel on green paper 48.2 x 30.5 cm. (19 x 12 in.)

Private Collection

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Over the course of the past two decades, there have been more casts of the Petite Danseuse offered at auction than there have been casts of the Étude. Furthermore, thirteen of the twenty casts of Étude de nu pour la “Petite Danseuse de quatorze ans” are in museum collections: A: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York B: Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo C: Haags Gemeentemuseum, The Hague D: Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio F: National Museum and Galleries of Wales, Cardiff G: National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh H: National Museum, Stockholm N: National Gallery, Oslo O: The National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. P: Musée d’Orsay, Paris R: Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen S: Museu de Arte de São Paulo, Brazil T: San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego

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Edgar Degas

Étude de nu pour la “Petite Danseuse de quatorze ans”

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Edgar Degas

Étude de nu pour la “Petite Danseuse de quatorze ans”

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S I M ON C . D IC K I N S ON LT D .

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