Edgar Degas

Woldemar von Seidlitz, Dresden
Otto Gerstenberg, Berlin
Richard H. Zinser (acquired from the above)
Mr & Mrs Walter Bareiss, New York (acquired from the above in November 1943; sale: Sotheby's, New York, 9th May 2007, lot 339)
Purchased at the above sale by the present owner

New York, Guest House of Mrs John D. Rockefeller, Young Collectors: An exhibition of paintings lent by members of the Junior Council of the Museum of Modern Art, 1954, no. 10
Munich, Neue Staatsgalerie, Sammlung Walter Bareiss, 1965, illustrated in the catalogue
Kassel, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Sammlung Walter Bareiss, 1967, p. 15, illustrated in the catalogue
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, European Drawings from the Bareiss Collection, 1969
Tübingen, Kunsthalle Tübingen & Berlin, Nationalgalerie Berlin, Edgar Degas, Pastelle, Ölskizzen, Zeichnungen, 1984, no. 74
Boston, Museum of Fine Arts & Paris, Musée d'Orsay, Degas and the Nude, 2011-12, no. 37, illustrated in colour in the catalogue

'European drawings from the Bareiss Collection', Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, June 1969, XXVII, no. 19, illustrated p. 438
Philippe Brame & Théodore Reff, Degas et son Œuvre, A supplement, New York & London, 1984, no. 63, illustrated

Executed on brown wove paper, laid down on card. The lower part of the right edge is slightly unevenly cut, with minor paper losses. The sheet is time stained and there is some mount staining to all four edges. There are two pin holes one to the upper right edge with associated paper loss, and one to the lower right edge. There is some paper loss to the upper left corner and to the lower right corner and creases to the lower left corner. There are some tiny spots of discolouration, away from the image. There is a repaired tear to the centre of the lower edge. There are some irregular, possible glue or water marks, to each extreme edge. Otherwise this work is in good condition.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The present work is a wonderful early example of Degas' fascination with the intimate depiction of the female form and anticipates the milliner and bather series that he would develop throughout the 1880s and 1890s. In Femme debout Degas creates a striking image, contrasting the stark whiteness of the figure’s flesh against the gestural, energetic lines of her skirt and arms. The loosely sketched skirt and several positions of her arm suggest an experimental work in which Degas is exploring the depiction of movement – an interest that he would develop most fully in his celebrated paintings of ballet dancers.

It has been suggested that Femme debout is a study for the female figure in one of the artist's most important early works, Interiéur (Le Viol) (1868-69, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia).  For his larger compositions, Degas would often produce numerous studies in an attempt to achieve the perfect arrangement. Denys Sutton writes: ‘The trouble he took to secure the desired effects - figures shown in obscure light, the evocation of intimacy, the concern with the problems of perspective - can equally well suggest that Degas was concerned with an attempt to find pictorial solutions and to experiment with them as much as to comment on states of mind, or to illustrate a story’ (Denys Sutton, Edgar Degas, Life and Work, New York, 1986, p. 81).