Edgar Degas
(1834 – Paris – 1917)
Buste de Danseuse, c. 1896
Black chalk
40 x 59 cm
Atelier stamp, lower left: "Degas" (Lugt 658)
Study for Lemoisne 1246
PROVENANCE
Atelier Edgar Degas (3ème vente, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 1919, lot 228, ill. p. 182.)
Galerie Bénézit, Paris
Dr. Willi Raeber, Basel
Private collection, by descent
„Degas, Dance, Drawing“ is the title of Paul Valery’s celebrated essay of 1936 on Degas. From 1870 until his death the subject of the dance, this illusion of weightlesness that can result in exhaustion, fascinated Degas. He saw in the two aspects a human allegory which tempted him continuously to capture and represent.
The theme of elegance, gracefulness and harmonious movement dominates our study for a pastel formerly in the Barthélémy Collection, Paris, dating from the 1890’s. The work was executed from life, either in a dance studio or, as it was often the case, in the artist’s studio.
In 1919 the contents of Degas’ estate and studio were sold at auction, postponed for a year due to the Great War. The majority of drawings, among which our sheet also featured, were bought by the eminent dealers Paul Durand-Ruel and Ambroise Vollard. With thick circling strokes Degas captures movement. The dark contours are emphasized in order to illuminate the dancer’s clothed torso.
The love of line, here endlessly varied, earned Degas a special place among the Impressionists. “A person can be a painter but must be born a draughtsman.”(“Un homme peut devir peintre, mais il doit naître dessinateur”) was one of his oracular sayings. Neither the face nor details such as fingers interested him but rather the position of the body and head and the movement of arms. The monumentality of our drawing is typical of Degas’ late style. The free and spontaneous manner of drawing (as with Rembrandt there is not one stroke too many) anticipates the great artists of the 20th century.
David Mandrella, Paris, 2021