EDGAR DEGAS | Danseuse (buste)

Estate of the Artist (sale: Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, Atelier Degas, 4ème Vente, 2nd-4th July 1919, lot 193)
Jens Thiis, Norway (purchased at the above sale)
Private Collection, Denmark (sale: Sotheby's, London, 30th April 1969, lot 14)
Purchased at the above sale by the present owner

Martigny, Fondation Pierre Gianadda, Degas, 1993, no. 64, illustrated in the catalogue
London, The Courtauld Gallery (on loan)

Please note that there is a professional condition report for this work, please contact mariella.salazar@sothebys.com to request a copy.
"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."

Degas began to work extensively in pastel in the 1870s and in the following decades it would become his principal medium. Popular in the eighteenth century pastel enjoyed something of a revival in the late nineteenth century. Pissarro and Monet, for example, both use pastel to add color to drawings, but Degas' use of the technique was on an entirely different level, as is evident in the present work. Degas found in pastel an ideal medium: a perfect fusion of colour and line. Pierre-Auguste Renoir lauded Degas, 'When one sees his pastels!... To think that with a medium which is so unpleasant to handle, he has succeeded in rediscovering the tone of frescos' (quoted in G. Adriani, Degas: Pastels, Oil Sketches, Drawings, London, 1985, p. 62).

The authenticity of this work has been confirmed by Galerie Brame & Lorenceau.