Ukrainian dancers
Ukrainian dancers, or traditionally Russian dancers, is a theme series of pastels by Edgar Degas depicting Ukrainian women performing ethnic dances. These paintings were created during the 1890s and early 1900s and were probably motivated by Ukrainian dancers performance in Paris of those times. Dancing women came from Russian Empire, so throughout the 20th century these paintings were attributed as "Russian dancers" in English and French sources, despite vast ethnographic and art historical evidence of Ukrainian origin of women. There were a number of voices calling for changing the misleading "Russian" name. These calls intensified with the beginning  of Russian invasion in Ukraine in February 2022. In response London's National Gallery renamed a painting from its collection as "Ukrainian dancers" in April 2022. Pastels. There are at least 18 pastels and sketches of Ukrainian dancers created by Degas, mostly in the second half of the 1890s. Lisa Bixenstine classifies them as 6 finished pastels, 4 unfinished ones, and 8 sketches. References. Sources.