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Edgar Degas

Horse Walking, original wax possibly early 1870s, cast c. 1920/1921

West Building, Ground Floor — Gallery G4

Medium

copper alloy

Dimensions

overall with base: 21 x 9.7 x 26.7 cm (8 1/4 x 3 13/16 x 10 1/2 in.)
height without base (of horse): 20.5 cm (8 1/16 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Mrs. Lessing J. Rosenwald

Accession Number

1989.28.2

Artists / Makers

Edgar Degas (sculptor) French, 1834 - 1917

Image Use

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Inscription

on top of base in corner closest to rear left hoof: Degas [stamped replica of artist's signature]; on top of base in corner closest to rear right hoof: 10 / B and CIRE / PERDUE / AA HEBRARD

Marks and Labels

FM: A.A. Hebrard

Provenance

(A.A. Hébrard, Paris); sold c. 1921 to (Walther Halvorsen), apparently for sale in New York;[1] sold or possibly consigned to (Durand-Ruel Galleries, New York), by 1922; possibly consigned 1923 to (Leicester Galleries, London); possibly consigned 1923 to (Casa Editrice d'Arte Enzo Pinci, Rome); possibly consigned 1924 to (Galerie Georges Petit, Paris); sent 1925 to (Ferargil Galleries, New York);[2] sold 1926 or later to Arthur Bloch [1882-1953], Philadelphia.[3] Lessing J. Rosenwald [1891-1979], Jenkintown, Pennsylvania; by inheritance (or possibly a gift) to his wife, Edith G. Rosenwald [1893-1988], Jenkintown;[4] gift 1989 to NGA.

[1] According to the archives of the Hébrard foundry, cited in Anne Pingeot, Degas Sculptures, Paris, 1991: no. 48 and "Repartition des bronzes avant 1936" on p. 196. See also Joseph S. Czestochowski and Anne Pingeot, Degas Sculptures. Catalogue Raisonné of the Bronzes, Memphis, 2002: 163.

[2] See Caroline Durand-Ruel Godfroy's account in Pingeot 1991, 31.

[3] Czestochowski and Pingeot 2002, 141, where 1926 is assigned as the year of purchase; however, given that the Ferargil Galleries "List of Sales, January 1926-March 20, 1936" (their records, 1900-1963, Reel D322, frames 351-424, Archives of American Art, Washington, D.C.) spanned a ten year period, the purchase could have been made later. Although Ferargil's records list Arthur "Block" as the buyer, this is almost certainly Arthur Bloch, a partner in N. Snellenberg & Co. (a department store in Philadelphia and Wilmington) and wealthy collector whose interests included material related to Benjamin Franklin (see a Parke-Bernet Galleries sale of 20 October 1954 in New York).

[4] Documentation about the Rosenwald acquisition has thus far not been found in either Lessing J. Rosenwald collection records in the NGA Archives or his papers in the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Associated Names

Durand-Ruel et Cie
Ferargil Galleries
Rosenwald, Lessing J., Mrs.

Exhibition History

1922: Exhibition of Bronzes by Degas 1834-1917, Durand-Ruel Galleries, New York, 1922, no. 52, as Cheval en marche (les oreilles manquent).

1923: Possibly Exhibition of the Works in Sculpture of Edgar Degas, Leicester Galleries, London, 1923, no. 52, as Cheval en marche (les oreilles manquent).

1923: Possibly La Seconda Biennale Romana, Mostra Internazionale di Belli Arti. Sculture di Edgar Degas 1834-1917, Casa Editrice d'Arte Enzo Pinci, Rome, 1923, no. 52 or no. 55 (different catalogues give different numbers), both as Cavallo di marcha.

1924: Possibly Exposition Degas, au profit de la Ligue franco-anglo-américaine contre le cancer: Peintures, pastels et dessins, sculptures, eaux-fortes, lithographies et monotypes, Galeries Georges Petit (sculpture shown at Galerie A.A. Hébrard), Paris, 1924, no. 305, as Cheval en march (les oreilles manquent).

1925: Exhibition of the Works in Sculpture of Edgar Degas, 1834-1917, Ferargil Galleries, New York, 1925, no. 52, as Horse Walking (Ears missing).

2001: Degas and America: The Early Collectors, High Museum of Art, Atlanta; Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 2001, no. 76, repro.

2007: Déja Vu? Revealing Repetition in French Masterpieces, The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore; Phoenix Art Museum, 2007-2008, no. 34, fig. 49.

Bibliography

1991: Pingeot, Anne. Degas Sculptures. Paris, 1991: no. 52.

1994: Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1994: 67, repro.

1995: Campbell, Sara. "A Catalogue of Degas' Bronzes." Apollo 142 (August 1995): 16, no. 10.

2002: Czestochowski, Joseph S., and Anne Pingeot. Degas--Sculptures. Catalogue Raisonné of the Bronzes. Memphis, 2002: 141.

2010: Lindsay, Suzanne Glover, Daphne S. Barbour, and Shelley G. Sturman. Edgar Degas Sculpture. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 2010: no. 3, 72-73, color repro.