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Lot Essay
Degas's drawings of dancers far outnumber those of any other subject in his oeuvre, and evolved in practice and technique over a period of more than forty years. The early drawings are related to the backstage and ballet class paintings, from the period 1872-1877, which constitute the artist's first concerted depictions of the ballet. In 1872 Degas embarked on his innumerable studies of the young dancers of the Paris Opéra. The first two major paintings in the series show la classe de danse, and are notable for their integration of a wide variety of dance and casual poses, set in warm interior lighting (see P.A. Lemoisne, Degas et son oeuvre, Paris, 1946, vol. II, nos. 297 and 298).
A year later Degas shifted his focus to the staged performance itself and in 1874 completed La répétition d'un ballet sur la scène (Lesmoisne, no. 340; Musée du Louvre, Paris), a depiction of a rehearsal on the stage of the Salle de la rue Le Peletier, the home of the Paris Opéra until it burned down in 1874. This new setting allowed the artist to exploit the drama and color of stage lighting, and to manipulate a more complex space comprised of the stage, its backdrop and wings, and the orchestra pit. Rather than showing the dancers during actual performance, he still preferred to catch them hard at work before the curtain rose.
Etude de danseuse is a study for the dancer seen third from the left in La répétition d'un ballet sur la scène. While several of her companions rehearse, and others mill around adjusting their costumes or stretching in exhaustion, she and the adjacent dancer try to catch the attention of someone in the unseen audience.
A year later Degas shifted his focus to the staged performance itself and in 1874 completed La répétition d'un ballet sur la scène (Lesmoisne, no. 340; Musée du Louvre, Paris), a depiction of a rehearsal on the stage of the Salle de la rue Le Peletier, the home of the Paris Opéra until it burned down in 1874. This new setting allowed the artist to exploit the drama and color of stage lighting, and to manipulate a more complex space comprised of the stage, its backdrop and wings, and the orchestra pit. Rather than showing the dancers during actual performance, he still preferred to catch them hard at work before the curtain rose.
Etude de danseuse is a study for the dancer seen third from the left in La répétition d'un ballet sur la scène. While several of her companions rehearse, and others mill around adjusting their costumes or stretching in exhaustion, she and the adjacent dancer try to catch the attention of someone in the unseen audience.