Edgar Degas

Atelier Edgar Degas (and sold: Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 3ème Vente, April 7-9, 1919, lot 209.2)
Dr. Georges Viau, Paris
Sam Salz, New York
Acquired from the above on November 5, 1953

Tübingen, Kunsthalle & Berlin, Nationalgalerie, Edgar Degas, Pastelle, Ölskizzen, Zeichnungen, 1984, no. 111, illustrated in color in the catalogue
London, David Bathurst Ltd., Paintings, Pastels and Drawings by Edgar Degas, 1991, no. 8, illustrated in color in the catalogue
Martigny, Switzerland, Fondation Pierre Gianadda, Degas, 1993, no. 28, illustrated in color in the catalogue

Degas (exhibition catalogue), Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Paris; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa & The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1988-89, illustrated p. 476

Executed on blueish gray laid paper. Sheet is affixed to mat around perimeter on verso. Edges of sheet are deckled and there are a few minor nicks, as well as a 1.5-inch vertical tear along the center bottom edge. Artist's pinholes at upper corners and center of top edges. Sheet is a bit faded overall with some small scattered surface stains and is slightly undulating in places. Overall in good condition.
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.

No other subject figures as prominently in Degas' oeuvre as the ballerina, whose lithe body and theatrical gestures fascinated the artist throughout his long career. Images of dancers nearly overwhelmed his production toward the end of his life, as he constantly experimented with rendering these young women in various media including oil, pastel and photography. Degas would often meet his models backstage after the ballet, sketching them while they stretched, relaxed or collapsed with exhaustion from their performance. In his later years, he would invite some of the lesser-known dancers to his studio, making them pose for long periods of time and sometimes repositioning them to suit the eccentricities of his compositions.

Degas' behind-the-scenes participation at the Garnier Opera performances allowed him access to details of the dancers' practices that were otherwise unseen. By the late 1870s and into the 1880s he attended both the performances and rehearsals, and he was well known among the members of the company. With such privileged access he could render them with his pastels in the midst of a staged production and in their more intimate moments when their movements were wholly unchoreographed. As Richard Kendall and Jill De Vonyar state, "no one observed more closely than Degas...the process by which 'common' Opéra dancers were transformed—through makeup, stylized costumes, and the distance between the proscenium and the audience—into 'priestesses of grace.' Much of his own art was concerned with this metamorphosis: research has increasingly revealed the extent to which his performance images were rooted in firsthand experience of the state rather than in his painterly imagination" (Degas and the Dance (exhibition catalogue), The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit & Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, 2002-03, p. 157).

Fig. 1 Edgar Degas, Danseuses en rose et vert, oil on canvas, 1890, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York