Edgar Degas

Estate of the artist (sold: Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, Atelier Degas, 1re Vente, 6th-8th May 1918, lot 241)

Jacques Seligmann, Paris (sold: American Art Association, New York, 27th January 1921, lot 53)

Duncan Phillips, Washington, D.C.

Sale: Sotheby's, London, 6th July 1960, lot 98

Marlborough Fine Art Ltd., London (purchased at the above sale)

Mr & Mrs Terence Kennedy (acquired by 1963. Sold: Sotheby's, London, 27th June 1977, lot 15)

Fischer Fine Art, London

Sale: Sotheby's, New York, 11th May 1987, lot 41

Purchased at the above sale by family of the present owner

London, Wildenstein & Co., The French Impressionists and some of their Contemporaries, 1963, no. 15, illustrated in the catalogue (as dating from circa 1884-88)

London, The Lefevre Gallery, Edgar Degas, 1970, no. 9, illustrated in the catalogue (titled Danseuse se degourdissant le bras derrière le dos à la barre and as dating from circa 1884-88)

Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Fondation Maeght, La Sculpture des peintres, 1997, no. 17, illustrated in colour in the catalogue

Paul-André Lemoisne, Degas et son œuvre, Paris, 1946, vol. III, no. 811, illustrated p. 463 (as dating from circa 1884-88)

Lillian Browse, Degas Dancers, London, 1949, no. 219, illustrated (titled Danseuse se degourdissant à la barre, le bras derrière le dos and as dating from circa 1900-05)

The Connoisseur, January 1960, pp. 2 & 5

Anne F. Maheux, Degas Pastels, Ottawa, 1988, no. 24, illustrated p. 60 (as dating from circa 1900)

Executed on a thin sheet of paper laid down on board which is very slightly bowed. There are a few nicks and minor losses to the extreme framing edges, a repaired tear in the lower left corner, a 1cm. tear in the centre of the extreme upper edge, a couple of losses in the lower right corner and a pinhead-sized loss towards the lower left corner. There is a line of discolouration across the middle of the composition which corresponds to the original mounting, a 3 by 5cm. area of restoration beneath the dancer's hand and a drip of glue running vertically into the dancer's right shoulder. Colours: Overall fairly accurate in the printed catalogue illustration, although stronger and more contrasted in the original.
"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."

Executed around the turn of the century, Danseuse à la barre depicts one of Degas’ favourite subjects – a ballet dancer preparing for a performance. In the present work a young ballerina is warming up before a rehearsal at the bar, her body elegantly twisting and turning through the movements demanded in classical dance. Degas’ lifelong interest in the subject developed in the 1860s, when as a young man he regularly attended the ballet and other performances such as opera, café-concerts and the circus. Degas was attracted to the spectacle and excitement of live entertainment and found in it an endless source of inspiration, sketching the performers in situ and later in the privacy of his own studio. In this manner he was able to study both the natural unguarded gestures of dancers at rest and practising the stylised movements of the ballet. Degas was fascinated not only by the public spectacle of ballet performances, but also by the more informal situations around them: the behind-the-scenes world of the rehearsal room or the dance class, the dancers’ preparation and tension before a performance and the more relaxed, casual moments that followed afterwards.

Throughout his career, Degas’ treatment of this subject underwent a radical metamorphosis. In the later decades, the artist’s visits to the ballet became less frequent and he began working increasingly from models in his studio and, beginning in the 1890s, from his own photographs (fig. 3). Whereas visits to the ballet had only afforded Degas fleeting demonstrations of the dancers’ choreographed movements, the privacy of the studio presented him with the opportunity to pose a model in his preferred way. In his later years Degas developed a highly expressive use of materials, and in the present work the figure is modelled using a vivid combination of rich pastels and dark contour lines. It also shows Degas’ interest in the depiction of movement, with the figure’s legs appearing to shift position. Danseuse à la barre is related to another work of the same period, featuring a similarly posed dancer which is currently in The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C. (fig. 1), and a preparatory study in the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa (fig. 2). Recent scholarship has suggested that the group of works to which the present pastel belongs was executed circa 1900, and as such has been included in exhibitions which explored and celebrated the artist’s late career, including the recent show Edgar Degas: The Late Work held at the Fondation Beyeler in Basel in 2012-13.