Edgar Degas

Sale: Galeries Georges Petit, Paris, 3ème Vente Atelier Edgar Degas, 7th-9th April, 1918, lot 219
Ambroise Vollard, Paris (purchased at the above sale)
Thomas Gibson Fine Art, London (acquired before 1971)
J. H. Moore (acquired from the above; gifted to the present owner)

Executed on tracing paper, laid down on card, which has been laid down on another sheet of card, hinged to the overmount along the upper edge. There is a faint 3cm. wide overmount stain along all four outer edges. There is a 3cm. long tear to the left of the centre lower edge and three support losses, the largest being 0.5 by 5cm., along the lower edge (not visible when framed). Apart from some minor surface undulations near the left edge, some tiny nicks to the outer edges and some minor surface dirt, this work is in good condition. Colours: The paper tone is slightly darker in the original.
"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. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

A passionate observer of modern life, fascinated with performance and ritual, Degas explored two main themes throughout his artistic career: ballet dancers and horse races. In the same way as Degas often captured horses and riders in the more unofficial situations before or after the race, his ballet dancers are usually shown away from the spotlight of the stage, in the more informal moments such as warming up before a performance or resting after the training.

These subjects provided Degas with the opportunity to experiment with the effect of duplicating a motif to explore the possibilities of a subject. 'One of the most distinctive shifts in Degas's working practices in later life was towards the sequence or series. Rather than create a unique statement of his chosen subject, in the form of a single drawing, pastel or oil painting, he would generate a sucession of near-identical variants that eventually formed a 'family' of compositions' (Richard Kendall, Degas beyond Impressionism, London, 1996, p. 186). 

The method of repeating a single subject was employed as well by the other great Impressionists such as Monet and Pissarro in their famous series paintings of such subjects as the Rouen Cathedral, haystacks or the boulevards of Paris. Degas, however, was not continuously re-presenting a scene under different lighting and atmospheric conditions, but rather discovering new compositional possibilities in the deployment of an abstract architecture of bent limbs, turning bodies and radiating skirts. 

The present work is a study for the pastels Trois danseuses (P.-A. Lemoisne, op. cit., vol. III, nos. 1447-1448) executed circa 1904-06 and now in the Art Institute of Chicago.