- 52
Edgar Degas
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
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
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.
Catalogue Note
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).