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Lot Essay
Commenting on this drawing, Professor Theodore Reff has pointed out: 'Préparation en dedans is a ballet term for an exercise involving a movement before another exercise called rond de jambe à terre, and it can be done either inward or outward; en dedans indicates it is here being done from back to front. Préparation is the movement before the rond de jambe and it is not followed by en dedans as Degas writes it; the en dedans belongs to the rond de jambe.
Fausse position seems to be Degas's criticism of the way the dancer is executing the exercise, but it can also be interpreted as a criticism of his own representation of it. There has been considerable discussion but little agreement among Degas scholars about whether such annotations, which occur rather often on his drawings from life of single dancers executing various steps, express his judgement of the dancer's performance or of his depiction of it. Sometimes it appears to be the one, sometimes the other, and sometimes it could be either or both' (letter, 25 April 2006).
Fausse position seems to be Degas's criticism of the way the dancer is executing the exercise, but it can also be interpreted as a criticism of his own representation of it. There has been considerable discussion but little agreement among Degas scholars about whether such annotations, which occur rather often on his drawings from life of single dancers executing various steps, express his judgement of the dancer's performance or of his depiction of it. Sometimes it appears to be the one, sometimes the other, and sometimes it could be either or both' (letter, 25 April 2006).