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Lot Essay
This finished study carries Degas's signature as opposed to the atelier stamp, and it probably left the artist's studio early in its life, attesting to Degas's own favorable view of its quality. Indeed, it displays the artist's draughtsmanship at its finest toward the end of the central phase of his career, and looks forward to the vigorous expression of his final decades, when skills and imagery accumulated over a lifetime of work would compensate for his failing eye sight.
This drawing is boldly and confidently executed, with the artist's characteristic pentimenti evident only in the positioning of the dancer's left arm. The richly hatched surface complements the decisive contours of the figure, rendering shadow as well as detail; the dancer's hair, pulled back in a bun, is drawn with special care. The artist avoids smudging and rubbing the charcoal as he models his forms; the stroke of the charcoal is largely up-and-down, with some diagonal strokes to add depth to his forms. This technique is fundamentally similar to that which Degas employs in the pastels of the period, and indeed this work may be likened to a pastel executed in grisaille.
Lemoisne dates this drawing to around 1885, although it is possibly somewhat later, as this subject achieves its final fruition in a pastel and an oil painting done in 1894-1899. The pastel, Danseuses (Rose et vert), dated 1894 on the sheet by the artist (Lemoisne, no. 1149; private collection), follows closely the profile of the face, although the artist has altered the manner in which the dancer has tied back her hair, and both arms are angled slightly more upward and outward, emphasizing the diagonal cleft of her shoulderblades. This pastel is usually regarded as preliminary being to the oil painting, Deux danseuses en jupes vertes, décor de paysage, dated by Lemoisne to 1895 and by Jean Sutherland Boggs to 1894-1899 (Lemoisne, no. 1195; private collection), which is four times the size of its predecessor. In the painting Degas again repositions the arms slightly; the dancer's left arm conforms to the angle in the drawing, while her right arm is pulled slightly back. The configuration of her back is largely the same as in the study, and Degas reverts to the larger bun of her hair as seen in the initial drawing. There is a related pastel study (Lemoisne, no. 1196), and another charcoal study (third studio sale, lot 335-2), drawn circa 1895, employs the heavily rubbed contours of Degas's late drawing style, and shows the artist making the adjustments he subsequently used in the oil painting.
The present work, the earliest in this complex sequence, shows the artist's subject in its freshest conception. Although the more finished pastel and oil versions, both of which show the dancer full-length and incorporate part of a second figure, complete the scene and have the advantage of full color, this study is the version which most successfully communicates Degas's involvement with his subject. The young dancer looks up with an alert and expectant attitude. Although she is standing off-stage and is somewhat relaxed, there is tension in her angled posture and her gaze seems to indicate that she is awaiting her cue to spring into motion. Degas captures her in a brief moment of excited anticipation, at a pivotal instant between an action completed and one about to begin.
This drawing is boldly and confidently executed, with the artist's characteristic pentimenti evident only in the positioning of the dancer's left arm. The richly hatched surface complements the decisive contours of the figure, rendering shadow as well as detail; the dancer's hair, pulled back in a bun, is drawn with special care. The artist avoids smudging and rubbing the charcoal as he models his forms; the stroke of the charcoal is largely up-and-down, with some diagonal strokes to add depth to his forms. This technique is fundamentally similar to that which Degas employs in the pastels of the period, and indeed this work may be likened to a pastel executed in grisaille.
Lemoisne dates this drawing to around 1885, although it is possibly somewhat later, as this subject achieves its final fruition in a pastel and an oil painting done in 1894-1899. The pastel, Danseuses (Rose et vert), dated 1894 on the sheet by the artist (Lemoisne, no. 1149; private collection), follows closely the profile of the face, although the artist has altered the manner in which the dancer has tied back her hair, and both arms are angled slightly more upward and outward, emphasizing the diagonal cleft of her shoulderblades. This pastel is usually regarded as preliminary being to the oil painting, Deux danseuses en jupes vertes, décor de paysage, dated by Lemoisne to 1895 and by Jean Sutherland Boggs to 1894-1899 (Lemoisne, no. 1195; private collection), which is four times the size of its predecessor. In the painting Degas again repositions the arms slightly; the dancer's left arm conforms to the angle in the drawing, while her right arm is pulled slightly back. The configuration of her back is largely the same as in the study, and Degas reverts to the larger bun of her hair as seen in the initial drawing. There is a related pastel study (Lemoisne, no. 1196), and another charcoal study (third studio sale, lot 335-2), drawn circa 1895, employs the heavily rubbed contours of Degas's late drawing style, and shows the artist making the adjustments he subsequently used in the oil painting.
The present work, the earliest in this complex sequence, shows the artist's subject in its freshest conception. Although the more finished pastel and oil versions, both of which show the dancer full-length and incorporate part of a second figure, complete the scene and have the advantage of full color, this study is the version which most successfully communicates Degas's involvement with his subject. The young dancer looks up with an alert and expectant attitude. Although she is standing off-stage and is somewhat relaxed, there is tension in her angled posture and her gaze seems to indicate that she is awaiting her cue to spring into motion. Degas captures her in a brief moment of excited anticipation, at a pivotal instant between an action completed and one about to begin.