New-York tribune., 1922-12-17

he left were 70 be cast under the super
vision Of his friend Bartholome-sev-
enty-two Of them in all. Twenty-Five
sets we're 10 be made. The hrst was
destined for the Louvre The others
were 20 be sold Mrs. Havemeyer
bought "Set A, and Il was shown az
the Grolier Club last winter. "Set B"
was acquired by NJ. Durand-Ruel. and
is now on exhibition at his gallery. Il
has profound interest for the student
Of Degas. The sculptures modelled by
him, so long veilcd in obseurity. were
as Characteristic as his paintings and
drawings. We made inquiry In regard
20 them Of NJ Durand.Ruel in 1919, and
he replied: "Degas has spent a good
deal Of time, not only in the later years
Of his life. but for the last fifty years.
in modelling in clay. Thus, as far as
can remember-that is to say, perhaps
forty years-whenever called on him
was almost as sure TO find him mod
cling In clay as painting. He must
have made an enormous number Of
clay or wax figures. But as he never
took care Of them he never put them
in bronze they always fell TO pieces
after a few years, and for that reason
it is only the later ones that now ex-
ist." The seventy-two fgurines pre-
served to-day represent the salvage
from about $50 pieces left scattered in
his homo at the time Of his death.
We have cited before, but we may
aptly cite again, tho "reminiscences Of
Mile. Pauline. the model who posed for
him in his old age. when. semi-blind. he
had to renounce painting and drawing.
contenting himself with sculpture.
Her anecdotes in the "Mercure dc
France" embody a touching picture Of
him at his labors. lie was worried
over his failing sight. II things went
on 50 badly ne would have to give up
even modelling. What would he do with
his days7 He would die Of ennui and
disgust What had he done TO be thus
tortured? All his life had been con-
secrated to his work. He had sought
neither honors nor riches. Listening
TO his appeals to high heaven to spare
/ him the misery Of blindness, his model
would try 70 comfort him. lie was not
going blind, she would tell him. He
was fatigued and the day was cold.
Finer weather would find him better.
/ The thought would cheer him and Paul
/ inc would reiterate IT, The doctors,
she would say, we're bound 70 tell him
the same thing. He was doing very
we'll for a man of seventy-six. He
worked every day, including Sundays
and holidays. Younger artists did not
work so hard. He had a good appetite
and a good digestion. He slept we'll
and had no rheumatism, like his old
friend, the collector, Rouart. Degas
would laugh and 60 to work, the old
fingers flying as he sang a fragment
from "Don Giovanni" The fgurines
were at once an evaporation and
JOY. Despite long practice he was not
an expert in management Of the sculp-
tors material, and sometimes It would
crumble and go awry. It did not mat
ter. Always he returned with gusto to
working in the round.
What waS his point Of view7 It was
not, for q moment, that which you
associate with the French tradition.
There is long line of sculptors. en-
bracing men like Clodion and Falco-
net in the eighteenth century, like the
men whose works FIJI Barbedienne's
window to this day, whose function
1t has been to play into the hands Of
decorative world. They have made
the statuette that is complete in itself,
an establishment to be set upon a
pedestal or a mRntel shelf in a draw
| ing room. II Is a tradition not in the
least incompatible with ideas far be-
yond the scope Of drawing rooms. Con-
slider, in passing, the bronzes Of the
famous animalier Barge. But even
Barge, working on a small scale, prac-
ticed sculpture for Its own sake. Degas
used It only as a vehicle for the
analysis Of form. 1t Is fairly amusing
TO think Of him in juxtaposition to
Rodin. The melting surface Of the
latter, II they interested Degas at all,
interested him not as signifying so
much sensuous charm but as express
ing truth. That is his point Of view
one concerned simply and solely with
research into the tangible fact Life
was what he was after. If it involved
fash Of beauty then so much the
better. He knew all about the eA-
quisite lines. the subtle nuanees. in
torso. But their aesthetic loveliness
meant less TO him than just their
tingling aetuality.
In the catalogue Of the present ex-
hibition there is a subtitle, classifying
one Of the groups, which contains
useful hint. "Etudes de movements