Edgar Degas (1834-1917)

Danseuse au repos, les mains sur les reins, la jambe droite en avant

Details

Edgar Degas (1834-1917)
Danseuse au repos, les mains sur les reins, la jambe droite en avant
stamped with signature, foundry mark and numbered on the top of the base 'Degas [Lugt 658] A.A. HEBRARD CIRE PERDUE 63/HER.D'
bronze with dark brown and green patina
Height: 17½in. (44.5cm.)
Original wax version executed 1892-1895; this bronze version cast 1919-1921 in an edition of 22 with 20 casts lettered A through T plus one cast marked HER.D for the Degas heirs and one cast marked HER for the founder Hébrard

Provenance

Mme. Nepveu-Degas, Paris
H. Einstein, London
The Lefevre Gallery (Alex. Reid & Lefevre, Ltd.), London (acquired by the family of the present owner, 1958)

Literature

J. Rewald, Degas: Works in Sculpture, A Complete Catalogue, London, 1944, no. XXII (another cast illustrated, p. 74)
L. Browse, Degas Dancers, London, 1949, no. 196 (another cast illustrated)
J. Rewald, Degas Sculpture, London, 1957, p. 145, no. XXII (another cast illustrated, pls. 55, 56 and fig. 6)
J. Lassaigne and F. Minervino, Tout l'oeuvre peint de Degas, Paris, 1974, no. S24 (another cast illustrated, p. 141)
C.W. Millard, The Sculpture of Edgar Degas, Princeton, New Jersey, 1976, pl. 47 (another cast illustrated; incorrectly identified as XXIII)
J. Rewald, Studies in Post-Impressionism, New York, 1986, no. 33 (another cast illustrated, p. 142)
ed. S. Salvi, Degas Sculpture, Milan, 1986, no. 63 (another cast illustrated, p. 205)
J. Rewald, Degas's Complete Sculpture: Catalogue Raisonné, San Francisco, 1990, no. XXII (wax version illustrated, p. 82; another cast illustrated, p. 83)
A. Pingeot, Degas Sculptures, Paris, 1991, no. 22 (another cast illustrated, pp. 48, 49 and 163)
S. Campbell, "A Catalogue of Degas' Bronzes," Apollo, vol. CXLII, no. 402, Aug., 1995, no. 63 (another cast illustrated, fig. 61, p. 41)

Exhibited

London, The Lefevre Gallery (Alex. Reid & Lefevre, Ltd.), Degas, April-May, 1958, no. 37 (illustrated, p. 21)

Lot Essay

In addition to his practice of drawing and tracing sequences of poses in order to explore their compositional possibilities (see lot 238), Degas also used sculpture, which he rendered principally in wax, to establish a pose that he would later utilize in his drawings and pastels. Richard Kendell, in his exhibition Degas: Beyond Impressionism, The Art Institute of Chicago, 1996, has followed the use of the pose in the present sculpture in no fewer than six late works which he assembled for the exhibition. Degas also repeated this pose in Danseuse au repos, les mains sur les reins, la jambe droite en avant (Rewald, no. XXIII) and in clothed form in Danseuse habillé au repos, les mains sur les reins, la jambe droite en avant (Rewald, no. LII).