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Home>Exhibitions>Past>2014>Exhibition: Degas's Little Dancer

# Degas's Little Dancer

October 5, 2014 – February 8, 2015West Building, Main Floor, M-82

Little Dancer Aged Fourteen

 

*Little Dancer Aged Fourteen*, 1878–1881pigmented beeswax, clay, metal armature, rope, paintbrushes, human hair, silk and linen ribbon, cotton and silk tutu, linen slippers, on wooden baseoverall without base: 98.9 x 34.7 x 35.2 cm (38 15/16 x 13 11/16 x 13 7/8 in.) weight: 49 lb. (22.226 kg)National Gallery of Art, Washington, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon

*Study in the Nude of Little Dancer Aged Fourteen (Nude Little Dancer)*, c. 1878–1881pigmented beeswax, plaster core, metal and wood armatures, on plaster and wooden basesoverall without base: 69.5 x 29.3 x 30.3 cm (27 3/8 x 11 9/16 x 11 15/16 in.) overall (wood base): 3.5 x 48 x 31.1 cm (1 3/8 x 18 7/8 x 12 1/4 in.)overall (plaster base): 5 x 34.6 x 26.8 cm (1 15/16 x 13 5/8 x 10 9/16 in.)National Gallery of Art, Washington, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon

*Fourth Position Front, on the Left Leg*, c. 1885/1890pigmented beeswax, metal armature, cork, on wooden baseoverall without base: 60.3 x 37.8 x 34.1 cm (23 3/4 x 14 7/8 x 13 7/16 in.)height (of figure): 56.8 cm (22 3/8 in.)Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon

*The Dance Lesson*, c. 1879oil on canvas, overall: 38 x 88 cm (14 15/16 x 34 5/8 in.)framed: 59.7 x 108.3 x 5.1 cm (23 1/2 x 42 5/8 x 2 in.)National Gallery of Art, Washington, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon

*The Dance Class (Ecole de Danse)*, c. 1873oil on canvas, 47.6 x 62.2 cm (18 3/4 x 24 1/2 in.)Trustees of the Corcoran Collection (William A. Clark Collection)

*The Curtain*, c. 1880pastel over charcoal and monotype on laid paper mounted on boardsheet: 29 x 33.3 cm (11 7/16 x 13 1/8 in.)National Gallery of Art, Washington, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon

*Ballet Dancers,* c. 1877pastel and gouache over monotypeoverall: 29.7 x 26.9 cm (11 11/16 x 10 9/16 in.)framed: 46.6 x 43.5 x 6.3 cm (18 3/8 x 17 1/8 x 2 1/2 in.)National Gallery of Art, Washington, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection

*Dancers at the Old Opera House*, c. 1877pastel over monotype on laid paperoverall: 21.8 x 17.1 cm (8 9/16 x 6 3/4 in.)framed: 35.5 x 31.1 x 3.8 cm (14 x 12 1/4 x 1 1/2 in.)National Gallery of Art, Washington, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection

*Ballet Scene*, c. 1907pastel on greenish transparent tracing paperoverall: 76.8 x 111.2 cm (30 1/4 x 43 3/4 in.)National Gallery of Art, Washington, Chester Dale Collection

Paul Mathey*Edgar Degas*, 1882graphite on paperboardoverall: 48.2 x 31.5 cm (19 x 12 3/8 in.)National Gallery of Art, Washington, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon

*Dancer Seen from Behind and Three Studies of Feet*, c. 1878black chalk and pastel on blue-gray laid paperoverall: 45.6 x 59.8 cm (17 15/16 x 23 9/16 in.) National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of Myron A. Hofer in memory of his mother, Mrs. Charles Hofer

Edgar Degas, executed in collaboration with Vicomte Ludovic Napoléon Lepic*The Ballet Master* (*Le maître de ballet*), c. 1874monotype heightened and corrected with white chalk or washplate: 56.5 x 70 cm (22 1/4 x 27 9/16 in.)sheet: 62 x 85 cm (24 7/16 x 33 7/16 in.) National Gallery of Art, Washington, Rosenwald Collection

**This exhibition is no longer on view at the National Gallery.**

**Overview:***Little Dancer Aged Fourteen* (1878–1881), Edgar Degas’s groundbreaking statuette of a young ballerina that caused a sensation at the 1881 impressionist exhibition, takes center stage in an exploration of Degas’s fascination with ballet and his experimental, modern approach to his work. This exhibition is presented in conjunction with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts’ world-premiere musical *Little Dancer*, which runs from October 25 through November 30, 2014.

Degas was a keen observer and wry but sympathetic chronicler of the daily life of dancers, depicting their world off-stage, at rehearsal or in the wings. *Degas’s Little Dancer*showcases this world of gaslight and struggle, as captured by the master.

One of the Gallery’s most popular works of art, *Little Dancer Aged Fourteen*will be presented with 14 additional works from the Gallery’s collection, including the monumental pastel *Ballet Scene* (c. 1907), monotypes and smaller original statuettes by Degas that are related to *Little Dancer Aged Fourteen*. The exhibition also includes the oil painting *The Dance Class*(c. 1873) from the Corcoran Gallery of Art.

The National Gallery of Art has the largest and most important collection of Degas’s surviving original wax sculptures in the world. Its wax version of *Little Dancer Aged Fourteen*is the only one formed by the artist’s own hands and the only sculpture he ever showed publicly. Degas did not carve sculpture but used an additive process. *Little Dancer Aged Fourteen*was modeled in wax over a metal armature, bulked with organic materials including wood, rope, and even old paintbrushes in the arms. Degas elevated the sculpture’s realism by affixing a wig of human hair and giving his ballerina a cotton-and-silk tutu, a cotton faille bodice, and linen slippers.

**Organization:** Organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington

**Attendance:**  149,237

**Brochure:**Degas’s Little Dancer, by Alison Luchs and Margaret Doyle. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 2014. 

Exhibition Feature

Modeling Movement: Degas's Dancers

Press Release

Exhibition Checklist

                    - Degas, Edgar
                    - French , 1834 - 1917
                    - Mathey, Paul
                    - French , 1844 - 1929

                    - Edgar Degas
                    - Little Dancer Aged Fourteen
                    - plaster cast possibly 1920/1921, after original wax modelled 1878-1881
                    - Edgar Degas
                    - Study in the Nude of Little Dancer Aged Fourteen (Nude Little Dancer)
                    - c. 1878-1881
                    - Edgar Degas
                    - The Dance Lesson
                    - c. 1879
                    - Edgar Degas
                    - The Curtain
                    - c. 1880
                    - Edgar Degas
                    - Ballet Dancers
                    - c. 1877
                    - Edgar Degas
                    - Dancers at the Old Opera House
                    - c. 1877
                    - Edgar Degas
                    - Ballet Scene
                    - c. 1907
                    - Edgar Degas
                    - Dancer Seen from Behind and Three Studies of Feet
                    - c. 1878
                    - Edgar Degas, executed in collaboration with Vicomte Lepic
                    - The Ballet Master
                    - c. 1876
                    - Paul Mathey
                    - Edgar Degas
                    - 1882

                  - Inside Look: Little Dancer Aged Fourteen 
                  -                                     Audio, Released:                                    February 10, 2015, (49:59 minutes)                                
                  - Little Dancer Aged Fourteen
                  -                                     Video, Released:                                    October 28, 2014, (1:20 minutes)                                
                  - Press Event: Degas's Little Dancer
                  -                                     Audio, Released:                                    September 30, 2014, (15:31 minutes)                                
                  - "Four Dancers," c. 1899, Edgar Degas
                  -                                     Video, Released:                                    November 1, 2011, (2:18 minutes)                                
                  - The Sculpture of Edgar Degas at the National Gallery of Art: Launch of a Landmark Publication 
                  -                                     Audio, Released:                                    February 15, 2011, (79:07 minutes)                                
                  - Edgar Degas Sculpture: The Systematic Catalogue
                  -                                     Audio, Released:                                    January 11, 2011, (17:16 minutes)                                

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