NARRATOR:
A woman in bright red slippers dries herself after a bath. Her room is unmistakably a boudoir. There’s a shallow tub containing water and a sponge on the floor in front of her, and perfume bottles on the dresser. In the cold glow of gaslight, her towel and body cast overlapping shadows on the bed behind her. Patterned wallpaper and carpeting only add to the visual complexity. The open door suggests that someone—a client or room mate—might enter at any moment. On the right, a starched white petticoat juts into the quiet scene. This fracturing technique was used often by Degas, a rejection of traditional paintings that had stable and centrally framed compositions.
From 1875 onward, the female nude figured prominently in Degas’ work, particularly in his depictions of brothel scenes. For this image, he first created a monotype, a black and white print made from an ink drawing on a metal plate. He made a second, fainter print, then painted over it in colorful pastels.
Claude Monet probably first saw this picture shortly after it was finished, at the Impressionist exhibition of 1877. Almost 20 years later, he tried to obtain it from a dealer for his collection. The dealer suggested that Monet pay for it with a painting of his own. But apparently, Degas was reluctant to make the exchange, and Monet bought the painting instead.
Woman Drying Herself after the Bath
1876-1877
Edgar Degas (French, 1834-1917)
On View
One critic called Degas’s submissions to the 1877 Impressionist exhibition “precise notes on the intimate, daily story of our epoch.” None was more intimate or precise than this scene of a woman fresh from her bath. The picture seems to have been among the artist’s first experiments with the use of pastel over monotype. After applying ink to a metal plate with his fingertips, Degas printed two sheets from the plate, producing a pair of compositionally identical “drawings.” He worked up the second of these with pastels, creating the luminous effects of the starched petticoat at right, the water in the tub, and the model’s bare flesh. The ink of the underlying monotype remains visible only in the lower left-hand corner, just above the artist’s signature.
Details
- Artist Name: Edgar Degas (French, 1834-1917)
- Title: Woman Drying Herself after the Bath
- Date: 1876-1877
- Medium: Pastel over monotype on laid paper
- Dimensions: 18 x 23-3/4 in. (45.7 x 60.3 cm)
- Credit Line: The Norton Simon Foundation
- Accession Number: F.1978.04.P
- Copyright: © The Norton Simon Foundation
Object Information
[Probably with Boussod, Valadon et Cie, Paris, prior to April 1887, when it was acquired from the gallery by];
Claude Monet (1840-1926), Giverny, still in 1922;
Michel Monet, Giverny, in 1935;
Georges Wildenstein, Paris, by 1937.
[Wildenstein & Co., Inc., New York; by 1944, offered 26 January 1963 and subsequently sold 27 January 1964 to];
Norton Simon, Los Angeles, sold 7 January 1974 to;
[Wildenstein & Co., Inc., New York, sold 20 December 1978 to];
The Norton Simon Foundation.
Claude Monet (1840-1926), Giverny, still in 1922;
Michel Monet, Giverny, in 1935;
Georges Wildenstein, Paris, by 1937.
[Wildenstein & Co., Inc., New York; by 1944, offered 26 January 1963 and subsequently sold 27 January 1964 to];
Norton Simon, Los Angeles, sold 7 January 1974 to;
[Wildenstein & Co., Inc., New York, sold 20 December 1978 to];
The Norton Simon Foundation.
French Pastel & Drawings from Clouet to Degas
- New York, Wildenstein, 1944-02-09 to 1944-03-02
- Boggs, Jean Sutherland, Drawings by Degas, p. 198
- Campbell, Sara, Collector Without Walls: Norton Simon and His Hunt for the Best,2010, cat. 172 p. 266
- Vauxcelles, Louis, L'Art et les Artistes, p. 89
- Masterpieces from the Norton Simon Museum,1989, p. 150
- Lemoisne, Paul-André, Degas et son oeuvre,no. 890
- Janis, Eugenia Parry, The Burlington Magazine,fig. 43 p. 80
- Marianne Mathieu and Dominique Lobstein, Monet The Collector,2017, Fig. 2 pp. 30-31, p. 238, pp. 269-270 ; p. 31 (ill.), p. 269 (ill.)
- Geffroy, Gustave, Claude Monet: sa vie, son temps, son oeuvre, p. 179
- Dye, Sean, The Mixed-Media Sourcebook, p. 112
- Russoli, Franco; and Fiorella Minervino, L'opera completa di Degas, p. 128
- Ohoka, M., Degas, p. 85
- Wilenski, R., Modern French Painters,pl. 13 pp. 5, 9, 75, 139
- Anfam, David and Sheena Wagstaff, Edward Hopper,fig. 11 p. 20
- Thomson, Richard, Degas: The Nudes, p. 80
- Thomson, Richard, The Private Degas,fig. 143 p. 109
- Art News, p. 17
- Campbell, Sara et al., Degas in the Norton Simon Museum,2009, Fig. 9 pp. 9, 44, 119
- Kendall, Richard, Degas: Beyond Impressionism,fig. 69 p. 70
- Boggs, Jean Sutherland, et al., Degas,fig. 145 p. 307
- Cabanne, Pierre, Edgar Degas,pl. 116 pp. 56, 134
- various authors, Degas un peintre impressionniste,2015, Fig. 35 p. 150
- Janis, Eugenia Parry, Degas Monotypes,no. 152
- Milner, Frank, Degas, pp. 102-103
- Schwabe, Randolph, Degas: The Draftsman,pl. 36
- Museum of Modern Art, Edgar Degas: A Strange New Beauty,2016, Figure 5 p. #41
- Adhemar, Jean; and Françoise Cachin, Edgar Degas: gravures et monotypes, pp. LXII, LXVII
- Willard, C., American Artist, p. 12
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