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Lot Essay
The dancer in Grande arabesque, premier temps has assumed the stance, from which—arms at the ready for balance—she will lean forward on her right leg, while raising her left leg straight back, to attain the horizontal (or higher) level of the grande arabesque. With her left foot still touching the ground, the position seen here is more precisely described as an arabesque à terre.
The present sculpture represents the initial stage in a sequential, triadic ensemble that Degas carried through in Grande arabesque, deuxième temps and the version designated troisième temps, depicting the moments of near and final realization of the grande arabesque position (Hébrard, nos. 15 and 16; Rewald, nos. XXXVI and XXXIX). Degas appears to have employed the same model, who possessed a well-toned figure, more strongly built than generally found among ballerinas today, for these three similarly scaled sculptures, which he is believed to have modeled during 1885-1890.
“The pose gives this figure a subtle, graceful dynamism and psychological life,” Suzanne Glover Lindsay has written. “Formally it produces an active interplay of masses in space from every angle, especially with the opposition between the dancer’s legs, body and head (to the right), and her shoulders and left arm” (Edgar Degas Sculpture, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2010, p. 204). While Grande arabesque, premier temps has no direct counterpart in Degas’s paintings or drawings, the effect of forward, anticipatory movement is also seen in other sculptures, including Danseuse s’avançant les bras levés, première étude.
Glover observed in the present figure “a balletic analogue to the many famous striding female nudes since antiquity, such as Diana the Huntress (Musée du Louvre)” (ibid.). Degas is reported to have claimed that his dancers “followed the Greek tradition purely and simply, almost all antique statues representing the movement and balance of rhythmic dance” (quoted in J. De Vonyar and R. Kendall, Degas and the Dance, exh. cat., Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2002, p. 235).
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; Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown; Glasgow Museum and Art Gallery; Musée d’Orsay, Paris; NY Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen and Museu de Arte de São Paulo, Brazil.
The present sculpture represents the initial stage in a sequential, triadic ensemble that Degas carried through in Grande arabesque, deuxième temps and the version designated troisième temps, depicting the moments of near and final realization of the grande arabesque position (Hébrard, nos. 15 and 16; Rewald, nos. XXXVI and XXXIX). Degas appears to have employed the same model, who possessed a well-toned figure, more strongly built than generally found among ballerinas today, for these three similarly scaled sculptures, which he is believed to have modeled during 1885-1890.
“The pose gives this figure a subtle, graceful dynamism and psychological life,” Suzanne Glover Lindsay has written. “Formally it produces an active interplay of masses in space from every angle, especially with the opposition between the dancer’s legs, body and head (to the right), and her shoulders and left arm” (Edgar Degas Sculpture, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2010, p. 204). While Grande arabesque, premier temps has no direct counterpart in Degas’s paintings or drawings, the effect of forward, anticipatory movement is also seen in other sculptures, including Danseuse s’avançant les bras levés, première étude.
Glover observed in the present figure “a balletic analogue to the many famous striding female nudes since antiquity, such as Diana the Huntress (Musée du Louvre)” (ibid.). Degas is reported to have claimed that his dancers “followed the Greek tradition purely and simply, almost all antique statues representing the movement and balance of rhythmic dance” (quoted in J. De Vonyar and R. Kendall, Degas and the Dance, exh. cat., Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2002, p. 235).
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; Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown; Glasgow Museum and Art Gallery; Musée d’Orsay, Paris; NY Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen and Museu de Arte de São Paulo, Brazil.