NARRATOR:
The theme of women bathing has been popular with artists since the Renaissance. But instead of showing bathers as part of a Biblical legend or a scene from Classical antiquity, Edgar Degas took a modern approach to his nude figures.
This woman appears to be in some private space, surrounded by colorful drapery. Degas has no interest in telling her story, or even in presenting a complete picture of the female form. Instead, he concentrates on luminous color and rich texture—focusing our attention on a simple everyday gesture and how the body moves when performing it.
Soft strokes of rose, peach, brown and cream-colored pastel reveal the curves and hollows of the muscles beneath the woman’s skin as she leans forward, stretching to dry the back of her neck. This particular pose fascinated Degas—he explored it in many drawings. Here, he placed tracing paper on a previous study, exactly copying the figure, then mounting the paper on cardboard. He also experimented with the pose in wax sculptures, some of which were cast in bronze after his death. You’ll find several of the bronzes on display in this gallery.
After the Bath
c. 1890-1893 (dated in error by another hand: 1885)
Edgar Degas (French, 1834-1917)
On View
Of Degas’s various recurrent subjects, the one most magically suited to the pastel medium may have been the female nude. By the early 1890s, the artist had all but abandoned oil paints for his nudes, relying instead on powdery, luminous pastels to convey the texture of bare skin. In works like this one, the more persuasively the physical properties of the medium mimic those of the sensuous subject, the more aware we become of the medium itself. Extreme realism here converges with abstraction, a new emphasis on the process of picture-making in the glowing, touched-all-over surface. The signature at lower left is original, but the incorrect date (“85”) is a later addition.
Details
- Artist Name: Edgar Degas (French, 1834-1917)
- Title: After the Bath
- Date: c. 1890-1893 (dated in error by another hand: 1885)
- Medium: Pastel on paper mounted on cardboard
- Dimensions: 26 x 20-3/4 in. (66 x 52.7 cm)
- Credit Line: The Norton Simon Foundation
- Accession Number: F.1975.02.P
- Copyright: © The Norton Simon Foundation
Object Information
The artist, sold 9 March 1902 for f. 6,000 to;
[Durand-Ruel, stock no. 6950, Paris, transferred 3 December 1912 to];
[Durand-Ruel, New York, stock no. 3585, sold 2 January 1913 for $9,000 to];
Miss Lillie P. Bliss, New York, bequeathed 1931 to;
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, sold May 1942 to;
Mrs. Charles Suydam Cutting, New York and New Jersey.
[Wildenstein & Co., New York].
Benjamin E. Bensinger, Chicago (sale, London, Christie's, 15 April 1975, lot 30, to);
[Somerville & Simpson, London, on behalf of];
The Norton Simon Foundation.
[Durand-Ruel, stock no. 6950, Paris, transferred 3 December 1912 to];
[Durand-Ruel, New York, stock no. 3585, sold 2 January 1913 for $9,000 to];
Miss Lillie P. Bliss, New York, bequeathed 1931 to;
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, sold May 1942 to;
Mrs. Charles Suydam Cutting, New York and New Jersey.
[Wildenstein & Co., New York].
Benjamin E. Bensinger, Chicago (sale, London, Christie's, 15 April 1975, lot 30, to);
[Somerville & Simpson, London, on behalf of];
The Norton Simon Foundation.
1913 Armory Show: 50th Anniversary Exhibition, 1963
- Utica, New York, Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, 1963-02-17 to 1963-03-31
- New York, Armory of the 69th Regiment, 1963-04-06 to 1963-04-28
- Rewald, John, Edgar Degas,no. 53
- Lemoisne, Paul-André, Degas et son oeuvre,no. 815 pp. 464-465
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- Campbell, Sara et al., Degas in the Norton Simon Museum,2009, Fig. 27 pp. 45, 200
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- Norman, Geraldine, Times,
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- Lassaigne, Jacques, Edgar Degas, p. 31
- Thomson, Richard, Degas: The Nudes, p. 183, 184
- Orcutt/Kushner, The Armory Show at 100: The New Art Spirit,2013,
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- Katzander, H., International Art Market, p. 146-147
- Steadman, David W., The Connoisseur, p. 222
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- Rouart, Denis, Degas: In Search of His Technique, p. 60
- Carmen Fernández Jacob, La Patalogía Ocular en la Pintura a Través de la Clínica Oftalmológica,2017, Fig. 26, Fig. 28 pp. 116-117
- Rebatet, Marguerite, Degas,pl. 126
- Caradente, G., Degas,pl. LVI p. 15
- Apollo,fig. 9 p. 10
- Fosca, F., Degas, p. 86
- Armstrong, Carol, Odd Man Out: Readings of the Work and Reputation of Edgar Degas,fig. 103 p. 197
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- Campbell, Sara, Collector Without Walls: Norton Simon and His Hunt for the Best,2010, cat. 1131 p. 375
- Lipton, Eunice, Arts Magazine,fig. 13 pp. 96-97
- Westheimer, Dr. Ruth ; Charles Sullivan, The Lover's Companion, pp. 14, 15
- Grappe, Georges, Edgar Degas, p. 52
- La Farge, H. A., Art News, p. 66
- Kendall, Richard, Degas: Beyond Impressionism,no. 48 pp. 156, 231, 233
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- Brettel, Richard; and Suzanne McCullagh, Degas in the Art Institute of Chicago,fig. 89-1 p. 185
- Hudson, Suzanne, and Nancy Noonan-Morrissey, How to Write About Art,fig. 6-2 p. 119
- Morsell, M., Art News, pp. 4, 15
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- Schacherl, Lillian, Edgar Degas: Dancers and Nudes, pp. 107, 125
- Dumont, Henri, Degas, p. 28
- Boggs, Jean Sutherland, Philadelphia Museum of Art Bulletin, p. 27
- North American distribution, plus 10% international; English language; Initial print run on VHS and DVD to total 10,000 copies, Impressionism (college-level course on video tape, narrated by Richard Brettell),
- Die Kunst für Alle, p. 382
- Russoli, Franco; and Fiorella Minervino, L'opera completa di Degas,no. 912 p. 127
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