埃德加∙德加

Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris (acquired from the artist on 24th May 1898)
Durand-Ruel Gallery, New York (acquired from the above on 28th October 1898)
Harris Whittemore, New York (acquired from the above on 9th November 1898)
Durand-Ruel Gallery, New York (acquired from the above on 1st November 1900)
Chester Johnson Galleries, Chicago (acquired from the above on 9th April 1928)
Paul Rosenberg, New York
Georges Lurçy, New York (acquired from the above. Sold: Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 7th November 1957, lot 41)
Hammer Galleries, New York (purchased at the above sale)
François L. Schwarz, New York & Paris
Private Collection, Chicago (sold: Sotheby's, New York, 15th November 1989, lot 39)
Purchased at the above sale by the present owner

New York, Durand-Ruel Gallery, Degas, 1901
Tokyo, Seibu Museum of Art; Kyoto, Musée de la Ville de Kyoto & Fukuoka, Centre Culturel de Fukuoka, Exposition Degas, 1976-77, no. 54, illustrated in colour in the catalogue

Paul-André Lemoisne, Degas et son œuvre, peintures et pastels, 1883-1908, Paris, 1946, vol. III, no. 1248, illustrated p. 727
Franco Russoli, L'opera completa di Degas, Milan, 1970, no. 1091, illustrated p. 135 (titled Quattro Ballerine)
François Daulte & Joseph Focarino, Privately Owned, Paintings and Drawings from the Collection of François L. Schwarz, New York, 1974, illustrated p. 27

Executed on laid paper, laid down on paper which is laid down on board. The sheet is unevenly cut on the left and right, edged with thin strips of underlying paper, probably coloured by another hand (partially visible in the catalogue illustration). There are two repaired tears running in from the lower half of the right edge. The underlying sheet has some slight liquid staining along the extreme left and right edges and some mount staining along all four edges (not visible when mounted). The pastel is fresh and unfaded and this work is overall in good condition. Colours: Overall fairly accurate in the printed catalogue illustration, although slightly richer and crisper 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 shortly before the turn of the century, Danseuses depicts one of Degas’ favourite subjects – ballet dancers preparing for a performance. The artist’s lifelong interest in dance 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 from nature. In this manner he was able to study both the natural unguarded gestures of dancers at rest and the stylised movements of classical 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 for and tension before a performance and the more relaxed, casual moments that followed afterwards.

 

Throughout Degas’ career, his 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. 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. The present work is one of several pastels and drawings Degas executed on the theme of a group of dancers adjusting their costumes just before going on stage, which culminated in the monumental oil En attendant l’entrée en scène of circa 1896-99, now in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (fig. 1). Confined to a narrow backstage space and looking in different directions, the four dancers are executed with a remarkable sense of tension and movement.

 

In his pastels of the 1890s, Degas' focus moved away from the linear, towards a new interest in colour, and the present work is a magnificent example of his new found freedom of expression. This sense of spontaneity in execution is also reflected in the placement of the vertical bar to the left of the composition. This highly modern device which Degas used in numerous other works creates an impression of glimpsing the dancers as we might in a casually taken photograph, rather than of a staged composition. Furthermore, the blue and green coloured background, denoting a curtain or part of the stage scenery, is executed in a free, spontaneous application of pastel, in contrast to the more carefully delineated figures of the dancers.

 

Degas usually developed his complex compositions of several dancers from numerous preliminary studies of isolated figures. These studies were often executed in charcoal on tracing paper and then transferred onto a further sheet, where they were combined with other figures to form a group. The dancers were often first drawn nude and subsequently ‘clothed’ in the worked up pastels with tutus, shoes and other dancing paraphernalia, examples of which Degas kept in the studio. From these initial studies Degas would construct a dramatic and vivid scene without leaving the privacy of the studio. Furthermore, he often studied various poses of the dancers in sculpture, and used them as a basis for his compositions in pastel and oil.

 

Danseuses once formed part of the art, furniture and silver collection of Georges Lurçy, a successful banker and investor with exceptional taste. Lurçy acquired great paintings by Renoir, Gauguin, Van Gogh and other major artists, and his collection was sold at a Parke-Bernet auction in 1957. Headlined by Time Magazine as 'The  Greatest Auction’, the sale was attended by Rockefellers, Fords, Greek shipping tycoons and Hollywood collectors. The three-day sale, which established numerous auction records, was reported as achieving a sum ‘that blew the roof right off the rising art market.’