Edgar Degas

Estate of the artist (and sold: Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, Atelier Edgar Degas, deuxième vente, December 11-13, 1918, lot 225)
Collection Hébrard, Paris
Durand-Ruel, Paris
Sale: Christie's, New York, May 16, 1979, lot 95
Private Collection (acquired at the above sale)
Thence by descent

Paul-André Lemoisne, Degas et son oeuvre, vol. III, Paris, 1946, no. 718, illustrated p. 409
Franco Russoli, L'Opera completa di Degas, Milan, 1970, illustrated p. 126

Work is in excellent condition. Executed on cream laid paper. Hinged to mat along upper edge on verso. Remnants of paper tape on verso around extreme perimeter. Artist's pinholes at upper corners. Pindot loss at extreme upper left corner, otherwise fine. Colors are very bright and fresh.
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No other subjects in Degas' oeuvre are as visually enticing and seductive as his bathers. These voyeuristic scenes of nude women, pampering themselves at their toilettes, have earned their place among the most desirable images in the history of modern art. At the turn of the century, Degas devoted his production almost exclusively to these intimate depictions so that he could study the contours of the female form at close proximity. Many of the models for these compositions were the young dancers from the ballet, who were now invited to pose for long hours in the drafty confines of Degas' studio. No matter how strenuous these sessions were for his models, their discomfort is never evident in these depictions. In this sensuous pastel from 1883, Degas depicts the nude in the intimate act of scrubbing herself before a low tub. The pose accentuates the elongation of the figure's spine, and the colors he has selected imbue the atmosphere with a sense of warmth. Her creamy flesh is expressed by the tone of the sheet, mainly unadorned but for deft charcoal shading.

As opposed to his studies of ballerinas, his renditions of bathers were freed from social expectations and the choreographed poses of the stage. Degas is quoted on this point as follows: ``Until now the nude has always been presented in poses which assume the presence of an audience, but these women of mine are decent, simple human beings who have no other concern than that of their physical condition [...] it is as though one were watching them through a keyhole'' (quoted in Goetz Adriani, Degas: Pastels, Oil Sketches, Drawings, London, 1985, p. 86). Degas' achievement in the Bathers series is thus to continue a degree of realism previously unknown. Degas later examined the theme with his groundbreaking 1888-89 sculpture, Le Tub (see Fig. 1). 

Fig. 1, Edgar Degas, Le Tub, 1888-89, bronze, Sold: Sotheby's New York, November 3, 2008, lot 12