The Dancers

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The Dancers

Artist Edgar Degas (French, 1834-1917)

Dateabout 1899

Dimensions24 1/2 in x 25 1/2 in. (62.2 x 64.8 cm)

MediumPastel on paper

ClassificationDrawings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1928.198

Not on View

Label TextThe incandescent, expressive colors of Edgar Degas’s pastel seem to vibrate off the paper. Applied in layered webs of rhythmic strokes, they achieve remarkable effects of translucency, depth, and texture. He finished off the image with flecks of yellow scattered over the costumes and startling blue outlines accentuating the heads. After about 1895, Degas turned more and more to pastel as his eyesight grew worse. Unlike oil painting, it required little preparation, no drying time, and could easily be reworked. Degas had an artistic fascination with the world of ballet. He seems to have been attracted to ballet’s inherent conflict between artifice and nature: between the make-believe world of choreographed gestures, fantastic costumes, and painted scenery and the mundane reality of young women endlessly rehearsing, waiting, stretching, and adjusting their costumes, as in The Dancers.Published ReferencesGrappe, G., Degas, Paris, 1908, p. 30, repr.

Lafond, Degas, Paris, 1918-1919, II, p. 30.

Meier-Graefe, J., Degas, London, 1923, pl. XCVIII.

Art News, XVII, November 1928, repr.

Art Digest, II, November 1, 1928, repr.

American Magazine of Art, XVIII, January 1929, repr.

Toledo Museum News, no. 58, September 1930, repr.

Vollard, A., Degas, An Intimate Portrait, 2nd ed., New York, 1937, fig. 17.

Mauclair, C., Degas, Paris, 1937, p. 167, pl. 137.

Godwin, Blake-More, European Paintings in the Toledo Museum, 1939, p. 224, repr. p. 225.

Shoolman, R. S., The Enjoyment of Art in America, Philadelphia, 1942, p. 558, repr. pl. 542.

Lemoisne, P. A., Degas et son oeuvre, Paris, 1944, III, no. 1344, repr. p. 787.

Rouart, D., Degar à la recherche de sa technique, Paris, 1945, p. 35, repr.

Dumont, Degas, New York, 1948, (col.) pl. 20, (b&w) pl. 21.

Browse, L., Degas Dancers, London, 1949, p. 408, no. 227, repr.

The Plaskon Magazine, no. 7, October 1950, repr. in color p. 13.

Cooper, D., Pastelle von Edgar Degas, Basel, 1952, p. 27, no. 30, repr.

Cogniat, Raymond, Histoire de la Peinture, Paris, Fernand, 1955, vol. 2, repr. p. 84.

Pataky, Dénes, Master Drawings from the Collection of the Budapest Museum of Fine Arts, 19th and 20th Centuries, New York, 1959, p. 22, cf. pl. 53 (said to be a study for the Toledo pastel).

A Guide to the Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, 1966, repr.

Werner, A., Degas Pastels, New York, 1968, pp. 42-43, repr.

Lee, Katharine C., "French Impressionism and Post-Impressionism," Toledo Museum News, vol. 12, no. 3, Autumn 1969, repr. (col.) p. 72.

Russoli, F., L'opera completa di Degas, Milan, 1970, no. 1134, pl. LXII.

Takashina, Shiyi, Degas, Tokyo, 1971, p. 144, repr. and repr. (col.) on slipcase. (Text in Japanese).

Laliberté, Norman, Pastel, Charcoal and Chalk Drawing, New York, 1973, p. 29, repr. p. 28.

"Drawing," The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, Chicago, 1974, Macropaedia, vol. 5, repr. (col.) pl. 2 (opp. p. 997).

Toledo Museum of Art, The Toledo Museum of Art, European Paintings, Toledo, 1976, p. 53, pl. 245.

The Toledo Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collections, Toledo, 1976, repr. p. 86 (col.).

Witt, Mary Ann Frese et al., The Humanities: Cultural Roots and Continuities, Lexington, Mass., 1980, vol. 2, repr. (col.) on cover.

Guillaud, Maurice, ed., Degas: Form and Space, Paris, 1984, fig. 147, p. 172.

Ravin, James G., "Art and medicine: Degas," Bulletin, Academy of Medicine of Toledo and Lucas County, vol. 72, no. 5, Nov./Dec., 1981, repr. p. 23.

Carpenter, James M., Visual Art, a Critical Introduction, New York, 1982, p. 232, repr. (col.) plate 31.

Kendall, Richard, ed., Degas by Himself, London, 1987, repr. (col.) p. 290.

Sutton, Denys, Edgar Degas: Life and Work, New York, 1986, repr. (col.) p. 196.

Gordon, Robert and Andrew Forge, Degas, New York, 1988, pp. 214, 218, repr. (col.) p. 221.

Wood, Dan, The Craft of Drawing, San Diego, 1988, p. 36, fig. 3-6 and pl. 4 (col.).

Goldstein, Nathan, Design and Composition, Englewood Cliffs, 1989, pl. 3, (col.), opp. p. 22.

Venezia, Mike, Mary Cassatt, Chicago, 1990, repr. p. 17 (col.).

Armstorng, Carol, Odd man out: readings of the work and reputation of Edgar Degas, Chicago, 1991, p. 197, pl. 3 (col.), fig. 107.

Parsons, Thomas and Iain Gale, Post-Impressionism, London, 1992, pl. 50, p. 59 (col.).

Ravin, James G. and Christie A. Kenyon, "Degas' loss of vision: evidence for a diagnosis of retinal disease," Survey of Opthalmology, vol. 39, no. 1, July/Aug. 1994, p. 61, fig. 6, p. 63 (col.).

"Painting motion," Scholastic Art, vol. 25, no. 1, Sept/Oct. 1994, p. 5, repr. (col.).

Roquebert, Anne, Degas, Milan, 1994, fig. 56, p. 90-91 (col.).

Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Treasures, Toledo, 1995, p. 147, repr. (col.).

Impressionists and modern art, Part I, New York, Sotheby's sale May 13, 1997, lot 12, first page, fig. 4.

Daniel, Malcolm, Edgar Degas, photographer, New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1998, p. 46, fig. 34.

Maheux, Anne, "Disegnare con il colore. La technia del pastello in Degas, De Nittis e Zandomeneghi," in Degas e gli italiani a Parigi, Ferrara, Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Ferrara, 2003, p. 160, fig. 81, (col.), p. 162.

"Edgar Degas," ArtaFacts Magazine, vol. 7, no. 1, Aug/Sept. 2003, repr. p. 3 (col.).

Buser, Thomas, Experiencing art around us, 2nd ed., Belmont, CA, Thomson Wadsworth, 2006, p. 156, 158, fig. 7-18, (col.).

Christie's, Impressionist/Modern Art Evening Sale, 6 May 2008, New York, Christie's, 2008, fig. 3, p. 121, repr. (col.)

. The Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Museum of Art Masterworks, Toledo, 2009, p. 284-85, repr. (col.).

Reich, Paula, Toledo Museum of Art: Map and Guide, London, Scala, 2009, p. 44, repr. (col.)

Exhibition HistoryLondon, Grafton Galleries, A Selection from the Pictures of Paul Durand-Ruel, 1905, no. 64 (as Ballet Girls,).

Paris, Galerie Georges Petit, Degas, 1924, no. 164.

Philadelphia Museum of Art, Degas Exhibition, 1936, no. 56, repr.

Paris, Orangerie, Degas, 1937, no. 78, pl. XXXII.

New York, Wildenstein Galleries, Five Centuries of Ballet, 1944, no. 239.

Cleveland, Cleveland Museum of Art, Degas, 1947, no. 50, repr. pl. XLI.

New York, Paul Rosenberg & Co., 21 Masterpieces by Seven Great Masters, 1948, no. 9, repr. p. 37.

Pittsburgh, Carnegie Museum of Art; Minneapolis Institute of Arts; Kansas City, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art; Saint Louis Art Museum; Toledo Museum of Art; Impressionism: Selections from Five American Museums, 1989-1990, no. 21, p. 64, repr. (col.), TMA only.

Toledo, Toledo Museum of Art, Strong Sensations: Impressionism and Symbolist Works on Paper, 1860-1900, April 23-June 20 2010 (no cat.).

Toledo, Toledo Museum of Art, Degas and the Dance, October 15, 2015-January 10, 2016.