Throughout his career Edgar Degas was an extraordinarily successful—albeit unconventional—portraitist who gathered as his sitters family, friends and the dancers in whom he took an interest. He was, however, less successful working in three dimensions, often leaving his clay studies unresolved. This portrait of a dancer who posed for Degas at age 19, displays his challenges with the medium. Even though the studies of this premier ballerina of the Paris Opéra appear to be unfinished, Degas’s sculpted portraits, along with those painted, drawn and photographed, reinforce his commitment to the genre.
Details
- Artist Name: Edgar Degas (French, 1834-1917)
- Title: Head, study for the portrait of Mathilde Salle
- Date: Modeled 1892; cast 1919-21
- Medium: Copper alloy
- Dimensions: 10-1/4 x 6 x 7-3/4 in. (26 x 15.2 x 19.7 cm)
- Credit Line: Norton Simon Art Foundation
- Accession Number: M.1977.02.67.S
- Copyright: © Norton Simon Art Foundation
Object Information
Nelly Hébrard, Paris;
[Alex Reid & Lefevre, London, sold 17 January 1977 to];
Norton Simon Art Foundation.
The Complete Sculptures of Degas
- London, Reid & Lefevre Gallery, 1976-11-18 to 1976-12-21
Gaze: Portraiture After Ingres
- Norton Simon Museum, 2009-10-30 to 2010-04-05
Taking Shape: Degas as Sculptor
- Norton Simon Museum, 2017-11-09 to 2018-04-09
Original Bronze Foundry Models of Degas Sculpture on loan from the Norton Simon, Inc. Foundation
- Fogg Art Museum, 1977-01-15 to
- Campbell, Sara, Apollo, fig. 27 p. 24
- The Lefevre Gallery, The Complete Sculptures of Degas, 1976, no. 70 p. 87
- Campbell, Sara et al., Degas in the Norton Simon Museum, 2009, Fig. 102 p. 490
- Campbell, Sara, Collector Without Walls: Norton Simon and His Hunt for the Best, 2010, cat. 1397 p. 402
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