Standing Dancer
Artist
Edgar Degas
(French, 1834–1914)
Dateabout 1895
Mediumcharcoal on tan wove paper
Dimensionssheet: 50.7 × 47.3 cm (19 15/16 × 18 5/8 in.)
ClassificationsDrawings
Credit LineManuel K. and Ina R. Berman Collection
Object number2003.70
Label TextBallet performers were a favorite subject for Degas. With exposed legs and arms, a rarity in French society, dancers served as titillating spectacles for bourgeois men. In an 1880 review of Degas’ work, the decadent Symbolist writer Joris-Karl Huysmans described the artist’s ballerinas as “charming because of a special beauty compounded of plebeian coarseness and of grace.” In this drawing, the dancer’s slouching posture supplies both naturalism and courseness, while her classical profile and plunging backline possess the grace of Roman statuary. ProvenanceAtelier Degas, 3rd sale, no. 402On View
Not on view
