The Schoolgirl (Woman Walking in the Street)
original wax c. 1880/1881, cast probably 1956/1958
Sculptor, French, 1834 - 1917
Edgar Degas
Artwork overview
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Medium
copper alloy
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Credit Line
-
Dimensions
overall with base: 27.4 x 11.5 x 8.2 cm (10 13/16 x 4 1/2 x 3 1/4 in.)
height (of figure): 26.6 cm (10 1/2 in.) -
Accession Number
1999.79.37
West Building Ground Floor, Gallery G3
Artwork history & notes
Provenance
Hébrard family, Paris, 1956; Michel Kellerman, Paris;[1] sold March 1958 to (Fine Arts Associates [Otto Gerson Gallery], New York); sold 2 July 1958 to Mr. [1906-2001] and Mrs. Larry Aldrich, Ridgefield, Connecticut;[2] (their sale, Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 30 October 1963, no. 6, as Femme marchant dans la rue); John A. Beck [1920-1973], Houston;[3] (sale, Parke Bernet, New York, 16 April 1969, no. 8, as L'ecoliere--Jeune femme marchant dans la rue);[4] (Charles K. Lock [Lock Galleries], New York);[5] sold 1969 to Paul Mellon [1907-1999], Upperville, Virginia; bequest 1999 to NGA.
[1] Kellerman was reportedly Nelly Hébrard's caregiver who became one of her heirs (oral communication from Anne Pingeot to Suzanne Glover Lindsay, 2007). His ownership is cited in the 1963 Parke-Bernet sale catalogue, and confirmed by the stock card for the sculpture in the Otto and Ilse Gerson Papers (copy, NGA curatorial files, printed from Otto and Ilse Gerson Papers [1933-1980], business records, microfilm roll 4052, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C). Joseph S. Czestochowski and Anne Pingeot, Degas Sculptures. Catalogue Raisonné of the Bronzes, Memphis, 2002: 268, give 1956 as the year Kellerman acquired the bronze.
[2] Though no identifying marks were published in the catalogue, this cast has been associated in all subsequent literature with the bronze shown in Otto Gerson's 1958 exhibition, which, according to the catalogue cover, took place summer-fall 1958. The Gerson stock card for the sculpture ("stock #S23"; see note 1) does not record any mark or cast number either, but does provide the "bought from" and "sold to" information given here.
[3] Eva Avloniti at Sotheby's kindly provided the name of John A. Beck (e-mail of 8 April 2003 to Anne Halpern, in NGA curatorial files). Beck and his wife, Audrey Jones Beck (1922-2003) formed an important collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art that was ultimately donated to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
[4] In the catalogue, the sculpture is listed under the heading "Various Properties."
[5] Mellon collection records and Eva Avloniti's e-mail (see note 3), both in NGA curatorial files.
Associated Names
Exhibition History
1958
Paintings, Watercolors, Sculpture, Fine Arts Associates (Otto Gerson Gallery), New York, 1958, no. 5, repro.
1959
Paintings and Sculpture Collected by Mr. and Mrs. Larry Aldrich, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond; Atlanta Art Association Galleries, 1959, unnumbered section of catalogue.
1974
Nineteenth-Century Sculpture, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1974, unnumbered checklist.
2005
Breaking the Mold: Sculpture in Paris from Daumier to Rodin, The Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, 2005-2006, unnumbered catalogue, fig. 167.
Bibliography
1991
Pingeot, Anne. Degas Sculptures. Paris, 1991: no. 74.
1995
Campbell, Sara. "A Catalogue of Degas' Bronzes." Apollo 142 (August 1995): 10-48, 48, fig. 72.
2002
Czestochowski, Joseph S., and Anne Pingeot. Degas--Sculptures. Catalogue Raisonné of the Bronzes. Memphis, 2002: 268.
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. 58, 328-330, color repro.
Inscriptions
on base parallel to figure's right foot: Degas [stamped replica of artist's signature]; on corner of base behind figure's left foot: Hébrard Foundry stamp and .S.P.
Markings
FM: A.A. HEBRARD
Wikidata ID
Q63861754