+ Expand
Provenance: Property from the Collection of Helene Rabb Cahners
M.
Knoedler and Co., New York
Acquired from the above in 1965
Exhibited
Boston, The Museum of Fine Arts, 1992-2002 (on loan)
+ Expand
Notes: Literature:
Paul Gsell, "Edgar Degas,
statuaire," La Renaissance de l'Art français et des industries
de luxe, Paris, December 1918, illustration of the wax p. 376
Exposition des Sculptures de Degas (exhibition catalogue),
Galerie A.A. Hébrard, Paris, 1921, no. 4, another cast listed
Degas,
portraitiste, sculpteur (exhibition catalogue), Musée de
l'Orangerie, Paris, 1931, no. 4, another cast listed
Paul Vitry,
Catalogue des Sculptures du Moyen Age, de la Renaissance et des Temps
modernes, Suppléments, Paris, 1933, no. 1721
John Rewald,
Degas: Works in Sculpture, New York, 1944, no. XLII,
illustration of another cast pl. 97
Pierre Borel, Les sculptures inédites
de Degas. Choix de cires originales, Geneva, 1949, illustration of
the wax
John Rewald and Leonard von Matt, L'oeuvre sculpté
de Degas, Zürich, 1957, no. XLII, illustration of another cast pl. 36
Degas, Oeuvres du Musée du Louvre. Peintures, Pastels, Dessins,
Sculptures (exhibition catalogue), Orangerie des Tuileries, Paris,
1969, no. 246, listed p. 47
Franco Russoli and Fiorella Minervino,
L'opera completa di Degas, Milan, 1970, no. S4,
illustration of another cast p. 140
John Rewald, The Complete
Sculptures of Degas (exhibition catalogue), The Lefevre Gallery,
London, 1976, no. 4, illustration of another cast p. 22
Charles W. Millard,
The Sculpture of Edgar Degas, Princeton, 1976, fig. 46,
illustration of another cast (as dating from between 1881 and 1885)
Degas, le modèle et l'espace, (exhibition
catalogue), Centre culturel du Marais, Paris, 1984-85, no. 61, fig. 186,
illustrated
Degas scultore (exhibition catalogue), Palazzo
Strozzi, Florence; Palazzo Forti, Verona, 1986, no. 3, illustration of another
cast p. 102
Anne Pingeot, Antoinette Le Normand-Romain and Laure de
Margerie, Catalogue sommaire illustré des Sculptures du Musée
d'Orsay, Paris, 1986, no. 2068, illustration of another cast p.
127
Richard Kendall, Degas: Images of Women, Liverpool,
1989, fig. 30, illustration of another cast p. 55
John Rewald,
Degas's Complete Sculpture, Catalogue Raisonné, San
Francisco, 1990, no. XLII, illustration of another cast p. 122
Anne
Pingeot and Frank Horvat, Degas Sculptures, Paris, 1991, no. 4,
illustrations of another cast pp. 65 and 67
Sarah Campbell,
"Degas' bronzes," Apollo, August 1995,
London, no. 3, illustration of another cast p. 12
Jill DeVonyar and
Richard Kendall, Degas and the Dance (exhibition catalogue),
The Detroit Institute of Arts; The Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2002-03, no.
166, illustration of another cast p. 150
Degas' dancers are
perhaps the most celebrated figures of his oeuvre. Throughout his career he
constantly experimented with rendering the dancers in various poses, as he
was fascinated with the seemingly boundless flexibility of their bodies. By
and large, the medium of sculpture offered him the most possibilities for
capturing the grace and beauty of these figures. For the present work, the
artist has rendered the dancer posing with her left leg extended backwards,
almost parallel to the ground, and right arm extended forwards,
counterbalancing her weight. This position, known as
arabesque, is one of the most animated poses of the ballet, and
was commonly depicted in Degas' paintings, drawings and pastels.
But by employing a three-dimensional medium here, the artist is more fully
able to convey the expressive potential of the figure's body.
Writing about this work in the recent exhibition catalogue
Degas and the Dance, Jill DeVonyar and Richard Kendall discuss
the signficance of this pose in 19th century classical dance and the three
dimensional complexity that it offered the sculptor: ''In
Degas' Arabesque Over Right Leg, we encounter an
almost flat back [...], while the bent knee represents a further departure
from the current practice of keeping the extended leg completely straight.
[...] In this context, we should note that Degas' sensitively modeled,
lyrical figure is represented in the nude, allowing him to give full articulation
to the currently preferred pose, and incidentally, to reveal the true shape of
his uncorseted model" (Jill DeVonyar and Richard Kendall, Degas
and the Dance (exhibition catalogue), The Detroit Institute of Arts;
The Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2002-03, p. 153).
The original wax
model was executed between 1882 and 1895 and cast in an edition of twenty-
two bronze examples between 1919 and 1921, numbered from A to T, plus
two casts, numbered HER and HERD, reserved for the Degas heirs and
Hébrard. The number 3 refers to the subject in the inventory of the wax
models in the artist's studio.
We're Hiring!
