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Lot Essay
Degas developed a special fascination with the introduction of the grande arabesque into romantic ballet performance during the latter half of 19th century. Among the forty sculptures that he modeled of dancers from the mid-1880s into the early years of the next century, eight feature the arabesque in various stages of execution. The present Grande arabesque, further designated “troisième temps”, depicts the culminating moment in a sequence of three works, the previous two accordingly annotated “premier” and “deuxième temps” (Hébrard, no. 18; Rewald, no. XXXVI), which Degas conceived as a series.
The 19th-century Italian dancer and teacher Carlo Blasis intended that his new arabesque—together with other horizontal and oblique positions he derived from classical reliefs and paintings—should contrast dramatically with the conventional verticality of earlier ballet forms. Here the dancer performs the arabesque penchée: leaning forward on her right leg, she raises the left to the rear, aligning herself along an extended, undulating, oblique axis (seen also in Hébrard, nos. 2 and 60; Rewald, nos. XLI and XXXIX). Drawing on long training and practice, exceptional strength, balance, and control, the dancer achieves the grande arabesque at the instant her raised, straightened leg is perfectly horizontal, or—as in the present sculpture—even higher.
Admiring the grande arabesque for its consummate poise and beauty, Degas appears to have been at least as equally impressed with the extreme difficulty this position held for the dancer, a challenge that he likewise set for himself when modeling her in the act. In contending with the force of gravity, he, too, had to master issues of balance, control, and expressive effect in his manipulation of sculptural mass and form. While other sculptures in less extreme arabesque positions have counterparts in Degas's paintings, pastels and drawings, no other works show the arabesque penchée. His interest in the leaning arabesque was purely sculptural, a matter of rendering the figure three-dimensionally in space. Blasis had transformed elements of visual art from antiquity into ballet; Degas returned the compliment by reversing the process, creating works of art in two and three dimensions from his appreciation and study of classical dance.
Other casts of the present sculpture can be found in public institutions including: The National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; The Norton Simon Art Foundation, Pasadena; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge; The National Gallery of Art Scotland, Edinburgh; Tate Gallery, London; Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam; Musée d’Orsay, Paris and Museu de Arte de S Paulo, Brazil and NY Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen.
The 19th-century Italian dancer and teacher Carlo Blasis intended that his new arabesque—together with other horizontal and oblique positions he derived from classical reliefs and paintings—should contrast dramatically with the conventional verticality of earlier ballet forms. Here the dancer performs the arabesque penchée: leaning forward on her right leg, she raises the left to the rear, aligning herself along an extended, undulating, oblique axis (seen also in Hébrard, nos. 2 and 60; Rewald, nos. XLI and XXXIX). Drawing on long training and practice, exceptional strength, balance, and control, the dancer achieves the grande arabesque at the instant her raised, straightened leg is perfectly horizontal, or—as in the present sculpture—even higher.
Admiring the grande arabesque for its consummate poise and beauty, Degas appears to have been at least as equally impressed with the extreme difficulty this position held for the dancer, a challenge that he likewise set for himself when modeling her in the act. In contending with the force of gravity, he, too, had to master issues of balance, control, and expressive effect in his manipulation of sculptural mass and form. While other sculptures in less extreme arabesque positions have counterparts in Degas's paintings, pastels and drawings, no other works show the arabesque penchée. His interest in the leaning arabesque was purely sculptural, a matter of rendering the figure three-dimensionally in space. Blasis had transformed elements of visual art from antiquity into ballet; Degas returned the compliment by reversing the process, creating works of art in two and three dimensions from his appreciation and study of classical dance.
Other casts of the present sculpture can be found in public institutions including: The National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; The Norton Simon Art Foundation, Pasadena; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge; The National Gallery of Art Scotland, Edinburgh; Tate Gallery, London; Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam; Musée d’Orsay, Paris and Museu de Arte de S Paulo, Brazil and NY Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen.