.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Danseuse attachant l'épaulette de son corsage shows one of the poses that Edgar Degas clearly loved in his pictures, even arranging for a variation of this act to be immortalised in a photograph which was either commissioned or taken by the artist himself. The subject of a ballet dancer adjusting her shoulder strap, a glimpse of a moment behind the scenes as the dancers make their final preparations, has featured in a number of Degas' masterpieces, for instance in one of his best-known canvases, the Quatre danseuses of circa 1899 in the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. Many of the seemingly fleeting poses that Degas would capture in his pictures and sculptures had predecessors in the form of ancient statuary, and this was also the case with this motif, which echoes the movements of the Diane de Gabies, a statue of Artemis in the Louvre which was considered to be the work of Praxiteles. Intriguingly, Danseuse attachant l'épaulette de son corsage features a significant variation from the Diane de Gabies and from Degas' other depictions of dancers adjusting their shoulder straps as the woman is partially covering her face. In his own pictures on this theme, Degas usually showed the ballerinas concentrating on their shoulders, yet here she appears to be looking away, her arm stretched before her face as though to shield herself from the prying eyes of the viewers.
In the recent Washington D.C. monograph, it was pointed out that the pose of Danseuse attachant l'épaulette de son corsage echoes that of Phryne from Jean-Léon Gérome's 1861 painting of her (see S. Glover Lindsay, D.S. Barbour & S.G. Sturman, Edgar Degas: Sculpture, Washington, D.C., 2010, p. 218). In that picture, the legendary Theban courtesan was shown being disrobed before a jury which would acquit her after perceiving her beauty.
In Gérome's picture, she is shown as though she were a demure piece of smooth, near-white porcelain, blinding the jurors. In Degas' sculpture, by contrast, that pose appears in an earthier manner that highlights her vulnerability and indeed humanity. This is expressively accentuated by the striking and elegant simplicity of the composition: the dancer's feet are next to each other, meaning that it is only really the looping movement of the arms as they reach towards the shoulder that disrupts the sculpture's verticality. In this way, Degas draws the attention of the viewer to the head and arms, inviting us to pry while the woman tries to hide herself, involving us directly in the psychological play on the nature of the gaze which itself is such an integral part of both the creation and appreciation of art.
In the recent Washington D.C. monograph, it was pointed out that the pose of Danseuse attachant l'épaulette de son corsage echoes that of Phryne from Jean-Léon Gérome's 1861 painting of her (see S. Glover Lindsay, D.S. Barbour & S.G. Sturman, Edgar Degas: Sculpture, Washington, D.C., 2010, p. 218). In that picture, the legendary Theban courtesan was shown being disrobed before a jury which would acquit her after perceiving her beauty.
In Gérome's picture, she is shown as though she were a demure piece of smooth, near-white porcelain, blinding the jurors. In Degas' sculpture, by contrast, that pose appears in an earthier manner that highlights her vulnerability and indeed humanity. This is expressively accentuated by the striking and elegant simplicity of the composition: the dancer's feet are next to each other, meaning that it is only really the looping movement of the arms as they reach towards the shoulder that disrupts the sculpture's verticality. In this way, Degas draws the attention of the viewer to the head and arms, inviting us to pry while the woman tries to hide herself, involving us directly in the psychological play on the nature of the gaze which itself is such an integral part of both the creation and appreciation of art.