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1.Edgar Degas Étude de nu pour la “Petite Danseuse de quatorze ans”
Edgar DegasÉtude de nu pour la “Petite
Danseuse de quatorze ans”
2. d i c k i n s o n
d i c k i n s o n
Edgar DegasÉtude de nu pour la “Petite
Danseuse de quatorze ans”
4. d i c k i n s o n
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).
Edgar DegasÉtude de nu pour la “Petite
Danseuse de quatorze ans”
6. d i c k i n s o n
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).
7.Edgar Degas Étude de nu pour la “Petite Danseuse de quatorze ans”
8. d i c k i n s o n
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
same “casual fourth” position she adopts in the Petite Danseuse. The model
is traditionally identified as Marie van Goethem (b. 17 Feb. 1864), based in
part on an inscription on a drawing in which she is shown, from a variety
of perspectives, standing in this same pose. Relatively little is known about
Marie, who is believed to have posed for several other works by Degas
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.
Edgar DegasSelf-portrait in Library (Portrait
Bust in Background), 1895
Gelatin silver print
18.3 x 24.3 cm. (71/3 x 91/2 in.)
Following spread:
Eadweard Muybridge‘Woman Dancing (Fancy)’, 1887
Plate 187 of Animal Locomotion
Collotype
18.4 x 41.7 cm. (71/4 x 161/2 in.)
“They call me the painter of dancers, not understanding that for me the dance is a pretext for…rendering movement.”
Edgar Degas
13.Edgar Degas Étude de nu pour la “Petite Danseuse de quatorze ans”
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
and Morisot, among others. Critical opinions were divided: some praised the
naturalism of the figure’s appearance, standing just over a meter tall, while
others found this uncanny realism shocking: Marie was not a star dancer,
and she was dressed as though for class rather than for a performance.
Critic Charles Ephrussi celebrated it as “a truly modern effort” while Nina
de Villard predicted that it would become “the leading expression of a new
art” (quoted in R. Kendall, op. cit., 1998, p. 45). The author and critic Joris-
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
Edgar DegasClasse de Ballet (Salle de Danse), c.1878
Oil on canvas
81 x 76 cm. (317/8 x 297/8 in.)
Philadelphia Museum of Art, USA
Edgar DegasTrois Études d’une Danseuse Nue,
c. 1878 – 1879
Charcoal heightened with white
chalk on grey wove paper
47.7 x 62.3 cm. (183/4 x 241/2 in.)
Private Collection
14. d i c k i n s o n
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
15.Edgar Degas Étude de nu pour la “Petite Danseuse de quatorze ans”
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 DegasLa 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.
18. d i c k i n s o n
Not all of Degas’ original models survived, as these were extremely fragile
pieces crafted from a combination of pigmented wax and plastilene, a
non-drying modelling clay, sometimes constructed on a wire armature.
Fortunately, Palazzolo was able to preserve the surviving wax originals by
employing a complex casting process in which a duplicate wax was created
for each sculpture: “In Milan, Palazzolo had learned a method from the
sculptor Barzagli [sic; it must be Francesco Barzaghi]. He covered the
figurines with clay and then wrapped them entirely in plaster. When the
plaster had dried, he opened it and replaced the clay with a special gel. The
gel fills the space between the model and the mold and hardens (without
heat so the wax does not melt). When the gel mold has hardened, it is
opened and the original removed, safe and sound. After a core is installed
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
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).
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
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.
Previous page, left:
Edgar DegasÉtude d’une Danseuse Nue, c. 1878 – 1881
Black chalk and red charcoal on
mauve-pink laid paper
48.1 x 30.6 cm. (19 x 12 in.)
National Gallery, Oslo
Opposite page, clockwise from top:Edgar DegasÉtudes de Danseuse, c. 1878 – 1881 Black chalk, conté crayon, and pink
chalk, heightened with white chalk,
on blue paper
47.5 x 62.8 cm. (183/4 x 243/4 in.)
The Morgan Library & Museum,
Thaw Collection, New York
Edgar DegasQuatre Études d’une Danseuse, c. 1878
– 1881
Chalk and charcoal heightened with
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
Edgar DegasCinq 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
20. d i c k i n s o n
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
21.Edgar Degas Étude de nu pour la “Petite Danseuse de quatorze ans”
22. d i c k i n s o n
SIMON C. DICKINSON LTD.
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d i c k i n s o n
Research: Dr. Molly Dorkin
Design: Lara Pilkington
All Rights Reserved Simon C. Dickinson Ltd 2015
© Simon C. Dickinson Ltd. 2015
23.Edgar Degas Étude de nu pour la “Petite Danseuse de quatorze ans”
24. d i c k i n s o n
d i c k i n s o n
SIMON C. DICKINSON LTD.
LONDON
58 Je r myn S t ree tLondon SW1Y 6LX
Tel (44 ) 207 493 0340Fax (44 ) 207 493 0796
NEW YORK
19 Eas t 66 th S t ree tNew York NY 10065Te l (1 ) 212 772 8083Fax (1 ) 212 772 8186
www.s imondick inson .com