Edgar Degas

Sale: Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 1re vente Degas, May 6-8, 1918, lot 214

Jacques Seligmann, Paris (sold: American Art Association, New York, January 27, 1921, lot 37)

Ambroise Vollard, Paris (acquired at the above sale)

Paul Rosenberg, New York (by 1932 and until at least 1950)

Sam Salz, New York

Armour Estate (sold: Sotheby's, New York, May 17, 1990, lot 112)

Private Collection (acquired at the above sale)

Paris, Galerie Paul Rosenberg, Dessins et pastels de Degas, 1932

Paris, Musée de l'Orangerie, Degas, 1937, no. 166

Franco Russoli & Fiorella Minervino, Degas, Milan, 1970, no. 1171, illustrated p. 139 (titled Donna che si pettina e altra che legge)

Paul-André Lemoisne, Degas et son oeuvre, New York & London, 1984, no. 1132, illustrated p. 657

Pastel and charcoal on woven, joined paper laid down on card, which is laid down on millboard. The paper was trimmed slightly along the right edge by the artist's mounter when it was laid down. The medium is fresh and covers the entirety of the sheet. The artist used a variety of techniques to achieve the density and dimension of this composition, including multiple layers of pastel and the manipulation of wet charcoal. The artist extended his sheet on the left side with another paper, and that seam is visible on the left. There also appears to be another barely-visible joined area on the right, along with some creases that were pre-existing prior to execution of the pastel. Around the extreme periphery there are areas of minor nicks to the paper and abrasion from framing, but none of these affect the appearance of the composition. There is no evidence of restoration. Over all, the support of the composition is stable, the colors are fresh and the work is in very good condition. Colors: Over all, the colors are fresher than they appear in the catalogue illustration.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Femme se coiffant belongs to a group of pastels treating one of Degas' signature themes, that of female figures at their toilette.  While he usually portrayed a single female figure in these pastels, in the present work he depicted two women – one combing her hair, and the other leaning against a chair, reading a book.  Both girls appear deeply absorbed in their activities and completely unaware of the spectator's gaze, one turned with her back to us, the other with her eyes lowered towards the book she is holding.  In painting female figures, whom Degas studied so assiduously in the intimate confines of their boudoirs, the artist was interested in exploring the female body, rather than in representing his sitters as individuals.  Degas rarely personified them, and concentrated instead on depicting the human form in a variety of rituals and movements.  In his works on the subject of women at their toilette, the artist often depicted them in the process of brushing their hair, as in the present work, or washing and drying various parts of their body, which allowed him to explore unusual contortions of the nude.

 

Richard Kendall wrote about the artist's works on this theme: "The subject of coiffure [...] inspired some of the finest pictorial inventions of Degas' last years.  Though it had featured briefly in his earlier repertoire, the theme seized Degas's imagination afresh in the 1890s and prompted a profusion of drawings, pastels and oil paintings, even lithographs and wax sculptures.  Many were linked by the process of tracing or serial extension, but all demonstrated the artist's extraordinary ability to find visual and psychological drama in the humblest incidents of everyday life.  Some models appear in their domestic surroundings, others against stark, anonymous walls; some are seen close-to, others from a distance, from above or from an oblique angle; most are decorously clothed, but occasionally a figure appears naked; almost all are solemnly engaged with their toilette, but, again, this can seem serene or indolent, hasty or near-desperate in its intensity" (R. Kendall, Degas, Beyond Impressionism (ex. cat.), The National Gallery, London, 1996, p. 218).

 

Starting with his pastels of the 1890s, Degas' focus moved away from the linear, towards a new interest in color, and the present work is a magnificent example of his new found freedom of expression, exploring a palette of strong, bright tones.  Whilst the contours of the women's bodies and the two armchairs are clearly delineated in black, the rest of the composition is coloured in wide strokes of bright pigment.  The background is depicted with a degree of abstraction, rendered in free strokes of pastel.  This sense of spontaneity in execution is also reflected in his technique of using additional strips of paper.  Degas often employed this practice in his mature works, adapting the size and shape of his support in such a way as to suit the emerging composition.

 

The success of Degas' late pastels and their importance in the artist's œuvre was acknowledged by John Rewald:  "In his [...] important pastels of dancers and nudes, he was gradually reducing the emphasis on line in order to seek the pictorial.  Resorting to ever more vibrant colour effects, he found in his pastels a means to unite line and colour.  While every pastel stroke became a colour accent, its function in the whole was often not different from that of the impressionist brush stroke.  His pastels became multicoloured fireworks where all precision of form disappeared in favour of a texture that glittered with hatchings" (J. Rewald, The History of Impressionism, New York, 1973, p. 566).