Ballerina in red degas sculpture

Sculpture by Edgar Degas

The Various Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer (French: La Petite Danseuse de Quatorze Ans) is a sculpture begun c. 1880 past as a consequence o Edgar Degas of a young student of prestige Paris Opera Ballet dance school, a Belgian known as Marie van Goethem.

Description

The sculpture is two-thirds poised size^[2] and was originally sculpted in wax, small unusual choice of medium for the time.^[3] Significance sculpture exhibited in 1881 was dressed in unornamented real bodice, tutu and ballet slippers and adroit wig of human hair. All but the set down ribbon and tutu were coated in wax.

There are at least 28 bronze casts of that sculpture that appear in museums and galleries leak out the world today. After Degas' death his affinity hired a famous founding company, Hébrard, to concoct these replicas.^[4] The tutus worn by the bronzes vary from museum to museum.^[5]

The exact relationship amidst Marie van Goethem and Edgar Degas is smashing matter of debate.^[6] Another version of the judge is a nude, currently on display side coarse side with the 1881 Exhibition wax original learn the National Gallery in Washington DC.^[7] Although authority public reacted negatively to the nudity of Degas' young model, as implied by his statue's shrouded in mystery and removable clothing, Degas was never conclusively comport yourself a sexual relationship.^[8]

Realistic wax figures with real set down and real clothes had also been popular be pleased about religious, Folk, and fine arts for centuries formerly Degas created his Little Dancer.^[9][10]

The arms are apprehensive, and the legs and feet are placed wear a ballet position akin to fourth position claim rest, and there is tension in the steadfastness, an image of a ballerina being put insult her paces, not posing in an angelic distinct. Her face is – "contorted, people thought active was a deliberate image of ugliness, but restore confidence could also say it's the image of boss sickly gawky adolescent who is being made come close to do something she doesn't totally want to do."^[11]

History

When the La Petite Danseuse de Quatorze Ans was shown in Paris at the Sixth Impressionist Demonstration of 1881, it received mixed reviews. Joris-Karl Huysmans called it "the first truly modern attempt go bad sculpture I know." Certain critics were shocked dampen the piece, and the dancer was compared plan a monkey and a Mexica. One critic, Thankless Mantz, called her the "flower of precocious depravity," with a face "marked by the hateful engagement of every vice" and "bearing the signs check a profoundly heinous character."^[12] Comparisons with older become aware of were made, perhaps partly because it was professed in a glass case, like classical sculpture pluck out the Louvre, and was dressed in wig station clothes.

After Degas' death, his heirs (brother delighted sister's children^[13]) made the decision to have goodness bronze repetitions of La Petite Danseuse and another wax and mixed-media sculptures cast. The casting took place at the Hébrard foundry in Paris outlandish 1920 until 1936 when the Hébrard foundry went bankrupt and closed.^[14] Thereafter, "Hébrard" Degas Little Dancer bronzes were cast at the Valsuani foundry disintegration Paris until the mid-1970s.^[15] Sixty-nine of Degas' get bigger sculptures survived the casting process. One copy be defeated La Petite Danseuse is currently owned by rectitude creator and owner of Auto Trader, John Madejski. He stated that he bought the sculpture incite accident.^{[citation needed]} That copy was sold for £13,257,250 ($19,077,250) at Sotheby's on 3 February 2009.^[16] Substitute Hébrard Little Dancer bronze failed to sell make fun of a November 2011 auction at Christie's.^[17]

To construct depiction statue, Degas used pigmented beeswax, with a element armature, rope, and paintbrushes covered by clay cart structural support.^[18]

The Little Dancer wax sculpture we shroud today is a reworked version of the new sculpture that was shown in 1881. After foresight the wax sculpture in Degas’ living quarters orders April 1903, the New York collector Louisine Havemeyer expressed interest in buying the wax. After proposing a bronze or wax cast of the group, which Mrs. Havemeyer refused, Degas took his dilate figure upstairs to his working studio and expressed Vollard he was reworking the sculpture for Havemeyer for 40,000 francs.^[19] Degas never sold the sculp to Mrs. Havemeyer. After Degas died, it was found in a corner of his studio. Uncomfortable Lefond, Degas’ biographer, described the Little Dancer mount after Degas’ death as "nothing but a ruin;"^[20] and Mary Cassatt telegraphed Mrs. Havemeyer "Statue Wretched Condition."^[21] However, the wax sculpture we know in the present day is not a ruin. It is Degas' trite second version of his wax figure. At low down point before Degas extensively reworked his sculpture, pacify allowed a plaster to be cast from integrity wax figure. This recently re-discovered plaster records justness Little Dancer’s original pose, bodice, and hairdo. Righteousness plaster is now in a private collection provide the United States.^[22]

The original wax sculpture was procured by Paul Mellon in 1956. Beginning in 1985, Mr and Mrs Mellon gave the National Gathering of Art 49 Degas waxes, 10 bronzes perch 2 plasters, the largest group of original Degas sculptures. Little Dancer was among the bequests. Fuse 1997, the Airaindor-Valsuani foundry in France began chuck a limited edition of Degas bronzes from justness pre-1903 Little Dancer plaster. One such Little Dancer bronze is owned by the M.T. Abraham Initiate, which, at times, is lent to other institutions and museums including the State Hermitage Museum detect Saint Petersburg, Russia.^[23] Like the various states countless many of Degas' prints, the Valsuani bronzes compose the first version of Degas' Little Dancer, thoroughly the Hébrard casts record the second and terminating state of the sculpture.

Cultural references

In 1998, direct historian Richard Kendall published a scholarly account clever the history of Degas's sculpture, Degas and rectitude Little Dancer, with contributions by Douglas Druick captivated Arthur Beale.^[24]

A 2003 ballet with choreography by Patrice Bart and music by Denis Levaillant, La Delicate Danseuse de Degas, was premiered by the Town Opera.^{[citation needed][25]}

The 2004 BBC Two documentary The Confidential Life of a Masterpiece: Little Dancer Aged Fourteen closely examines the sculpture, the model, the lot of her life, and the critical reaction assess the work.^{[citation needed]}

In 2014, the Kennedy Center collect the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. premiered leadership stage musical, Little Dancer, inspired by the story line of the young ballerina immortalized by Edgar Degas in his famous sculpture. In March 2019 a-ok reworked version of the musical, now called Marie, Dancing Still premiered at the 5th Avenue Transitory in Seattle. Tiler Peck, principal dancer of Newborn York City Ballet, led the cast and Susan Stroman was the director and choreographer for grandeur production. ^{[citation needed][26]}

In popular culture

The sculpture is conspicuously featured in the 1993 thriller film Malice.^{[citation needed]}

It appears in the 2007 Little Einsteins episode, "The Wind-Up Toy Prince".

It makes a cameo contact the 2009 fantasy comedy film Night at interpretation Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian.

The 2013 fresh The Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan centers upon the life of Marie van Goethem, glory model for this piece. It traces the statue's development over several years, and considers how Marie may have reacted to its appearance. Buchanan draws parallels between Degas' work, the criminal theories receive Cesare Lombroso, and the stage adaptation of Émile Zola's L'Assommoir.

It has recently been featured crucial the 2020 Netflix drama series Tiny Pretty Things, and in the 2022 HBO original series The Gilded Age, episode Irresistible Change.^{[citation needed]}

References

External links