Study for Little Dancer Aged Fourteen

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Study for Little Dancer Aged Fourteen

Artist Edgar Degas (French, 1834-1917)

Place of OriginFrance

Date1919-1921

DimensionsH: 28 1/2 in. (72.4 cm);
Base) L: 13 in. (33 cm); W: 10 in. (25.4 cm)

MediumBronze

ClassificationSculpture

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

Object number

1950.246

On View

Toledo Museum of Art Glass Pavilion (2444 Monroe Street), Glass Pavilion Gallery, 5

Label TextThough Edgar Degas made dozens of wax sculptures (most of which were cast into bronze after his death), the only one he ever exhibited publicly was Little Dancer Aged Fourteen, now in the National Gallery of Art (see illustration). Dressed in a cloth bodice, tutu, and wig of real hair, the sculpture shocked critics with its inelegant subject and doll-like materials. Toledo’s sculpture is a bronze cast of a wax study for the groundbreaking finished figure. The young model, Marie van Goethem, was the daughter of a widowed laundress and lived near Degas’s Montmartre studio in Paris. She belonged to the corps de ballet of the Paris Opéra, whose members were frequent subjects for Degas. Degas made his nude wax study in order to work out the difficulties of the pose and the awkward adolescent body. Look for the line around the neck suggesting that he tilted the head back more than he had planned, causing the wax to crack. [image caption] Little Dancer Aged Fourteen, yellow wax, hair, ribbon, linen bodice, satin shoes, muslin tutu, wood base, 1878–1881. Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon. ©National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.Published ReferencesLee, Katharine C., "French Impressionism and Post-Impressionism," Toledo Museum News, no. 12, no.3, Autumn 1969, repr. p. 64.

Ravin, James G. and Christie A. Kenyon, "Degas' Loss of Vision: Evidence for a Diagnosis of Retinal Disease," Survey of Ophthalmology, vol. 39, no. 1, July/Aug. 1994, p. 61, fig. 5, p. 63 [article in VF file].

Campbell, Sara, "A Catalogue of Degas' Bronzes," Apollo, vol. 142, no. 402, Aug. 1995, p. 38.

Impressionist & Modern Art, Part 1, London, Sotheby's sale, June 27, 2000, p. 18, repr. p. 14 (col.).

The Smooke Collection, [sale], New York, Phillips, de Pury & Luxembourg, Nov. 5, 2001, pp. 236-237, fig. 3 (col.).

Impressionist & Modern Art, evening sale, London, Sotheby's 3 February 2004, p. 30, fig. 1 (col.) p. 26.

Reich, Paula, Toledo Museum of Art: Map and Guide, London, Scala, 2005, p. 44, repr. (col.).

Czestochowski, Joseph S. and Anne Pingeot, Degas Sculptures: Catalogue Raisonne of the Bronzes, Memphis, International Arts, 2002, p. 231.

Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale, 3 Feb. 2009 (sale L09601), London, Sotheby's, 2009, p. 34, fig. 1, p. 32 (col.).

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

Exhibition HistoryMunich, Thannhauser Gallery, Degas, 1926, no. 37.

Buenos Aires, Degas, 1934.

London, Leicester Galleries, 1939.

Toronto, Art Gallery of Toronto, 1941.

Cleveland Museum of Art, Works by Edgar Degas, 1947, no. 77.

Toledo Museum of Art, Degas, May 1950 (lent by N. K. Thannhauser).

Omaha, Joslyn Art Museum; Williamstown, Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute; Baltimore Museum of Art, Degas and the Little Dancer, 1998-9, no. 39, p. 35, repr. (col.).

Memphis, The Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Degas, Forain, Toulouse-Lautrec: Images of Dancers, 2002-03.

Canberra, National Gallery of Australia, Degas: Master of French Art, 2008-2009, no. 65, p. 144, repr. (col.).

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

Comparative ReferencesSee also Millard, Charles, The Sculpture of Edgar Degas, Princeton, 1976, figs. 23, 24. Cf. Pickvance, Ronald, Degas 1879, Edinburgh, National Gallery of Scotland, 1979, p. 64, no. 75. Cf. Rewald, Degas, Works in Sculpture, XIX, p. 21, repr. pp. 57, 58, 59. Cf. Rewald, John, Degas's Complete Sculpture Catalogue Raisonne, New Edition, San Francisco, 1990, no. XIX. Cf. Luchs, Allison, "The Degas Waxes," in Art for the Nation, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., pp. 178-183. Cf. Pingeot, Anne, Degas Sculptures, Paris, 199, no. 37.