Lot 52
  • 52

Edgar Degas

Estimate
2,500,000 - 3,500,000 USD
bidding is closed

Description

  • Edgar Degas
  • Femme à sa toilette
  • Stamped Degas (lower left)
  • Pastel on paper laid down on board
  • 19 1/4 by 28 1/4 in.
  • 49 by 72 cm

Provenance

Estate of the artist (1ère Vente Degas, Paris, May 6-8, 1918, lot 272)

Durand-Ruel, Paris (acquired at the above sale)

Consortium Degas (Seligmann, Durand-Ruel, Vollard, Bernheim Jeune) (acquired from the above and sold: Private collection of Paintings and Pastels by the great French Master Hilaire Germain Edgar Degas formed by the widely known antiquarian Jacques Seligmann of Paris, American Art Association, New York, January 27, 1921, lot 17)

Bernheim-Jeune, Paris (acquired at the above sale)

Sale: Christie’s, London, June 29, 1976, lot 220

Private Collection

Acquired in October 1987

Literature

Paul-André Lemoisne, Degas et son oeuvre, New York & London, 1984, no. 1170, illustrated p. 679

Condition

Very good condition. The sheet is drum mounted to the heavy cardboard. Along the top and bottom edges are nail holes from previous framing and some abrasion to the edges which are not disturbing. The colors are fresh and surface is stable.
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.

Catalogue Note

Femme à sa toilette belongs to a group of pastels treating one of Degas' signature themes, that of a female figure at her toilette.  His rendering of this subject here focuses on the movement of the body as the model dries her hair.  The drawing references the space beyond the physical boundaries of his composition, with the model's leg extending to the edge of the sheet. Because he was interested primarily in depicting the human form in a variety of rituals and movements, Degas rarely concentrated on the identity of his models and often obscured their faces, as he has in the present work.

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).