Edgar Degas

Sale: Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, Atelier Edgar Degas, 2ème vente, 11th-13th December 1918, lot 382 (with erroneous dimensions)
Ambroise Vollard, Paris (purchased at the above sale)
Sale: Palais Galliera, Paris, 29th November 1952, lot 32
Private Collection, Paris

Paul-André Lemoisne, Degas et son œuvre, Paris, 1947, vol. III, no. 1464ter, illustrated p. 833 (with erroneous dimensions)

Executed on cream wove paper, not laid down and affixed to the board along all four edges. The sheet is slightly undulating. The sheet is lightly time-stained with some scattered small spots of foxing throughout. There is some mount staining along the upper, left and right edges, not visible when framed. There is a flattened crease running across the upper right corner. There are a number of minor nicks as well as a small tear (approx. 3mm long) to the lower part of the right edge. This work is in overall good condition.
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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."

Femme nue debout, vue à mi-corps, s’essuyant le dos belongs to Degas’ celebrated depictions of female nudes after a bath, which he executed in several mediums from the early 1880s onwards. Rendered with a spontaneity and assurance characteristic of Degas’ most accomplished drawings, it shows a woman in a pose of somewhat exaggerated physical exertion. His focus here is on the movement of the body as the model reaches down to dry her back, her hair swept to the side and held aloft in the opposite hand. Compared to earlier treatments of this subject, the present work is more daring in its composition, exhibiting a certain boldness in its emphasis on exploring the female body in a highly animated gesture and, in particular, the musculature of her back. Seen from behind, seemingly unaware of the viewer’s gaze, the woman is depicted at a private moment, absorbed in her action and removed from the outside world.

Dating from between 1906 and 1908, the present work is a rare contre-épreuve or counter-proof impression of a pastel drawing of a bather that Degas executed in 1906 (Philippe Brame & Theodore Reff, Degas et son œuvre, A Supplement, New York & London, 1984, no. 158, illustrated p. 173). The un-fixed pastel drawing was passed through a press to give a copy in reverse which Degas then reworked, adding touches of charcoal and pastel to arrive at his desired effect. Similar to the technique of creating a monotype – another favourite mode of expression for Degas – with a counter-proof it is rare that more than one impression can be taken and indeed in this case, no other counter-proof is known to exist.

Degas’ interest in depicting the female form in a variety of rituals and movements inspired an extensive exploration of the subject in a great variety of media and techniques, as Richard Kendall notes: ‘The subject [of women at their toilette] inspired some of the finest pictorial inventions of Degas' last years.  Though it had featured briefly in his earlier repertoire, the theme seized Degas' imagination afresh in the 1890s and prompted a profusion of drawings, pastels and oil paintings, even prints and wax sculptures. Many were linked by the process of tracing or serial extension, but all demonstrated the artist's extraordinary ability to find visual and psychological drama in the humblest incidents of everyday life’ (Richard Kendall, Degas, Beyond Impressionism (ex. cat.), The National Gallery, London, 1996, p. 218).