Edgar Degas

Estate of the artist (and sold: Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 3ème Vente Degas, May 6-8, 1918, lot 16)
Pearson Collection, Paris (and sold: Paul Cassirer, Berlin, October 18, 1927, lot 29)
Joseph Hessel, Paris
Sale: Christie's, New York, May 16, 1990, lot 324
Private Collection (acquired at the above sale and sold: Christie's, New York, May 13, 1999, lot 121)
Acquired at the above sale

Paul-André Lemoisne, Degas et son oeuvre, New York & London, 1984, no. 115, illustrated p. 59 

This work is in very good condition. The surface is rich and the pigments are fresh. Likely painted on canvas mounted on board or mounted on board shortly after execution, there are no holes in the corners to suggest that the work was ever pinned although it could have been glued to the board by the estate after Degas' death. Regardless, it is not recommended that the work be removed from its board. The small uneven waves on the right side are probably original to the mounting, if not to the artist's process. Under UV light: some minor retouches to old frame abrasion in the lower left and left side, otherwise fine.
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.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Degas achieved his first artistic success in the genre of portraiture, and he regularly depicted friends and family members throughout his career. Painted circa 1864, Tête d’homme depicts an unidentified man, presumed to be an acquaintance from his circle of friends or, it has been suggested, the artist himself. As he did not need to make portraits for a living, Degas approached these images with the same passion with which he rendered his images of ballerinas and horse races. The fact that he knew his sitters meant Degas could depict them with a familiarity and directness that is rarely present in commissioned portraits. His treatment of this genre changed throughout his career, from the stern, penetrating self-portraits of the 1850s, to the freer, Impressionist-inspired works of his later years.

Accounting for about one-fifth of his entire artistic production, Degas’ portraits are now considered among the most subtle and varied of any painter’s in ninetheenth-century France. "Make portraits of people in typical, familiar poses," Degas wrote in his notebooks in the late 1860s, "being sure above all to give their faces the same kind of expression as their bodies" (quoted in Degas Portraits (exhibition catalogue), Kunsthaus, Zurich & Kunsthalle, Tübingen, 1994-95, p. 90). It is this candor and lack of artifice that we see in the present work.