Volume 3: Degas
Edited by Daphne Barbour and Suzanne Quillen Lomax
Volume 3 of the conservation division’s biennial journal Facture is dedicated to the works of the Edgar Degas (1834–1917) in honor of the centenary of his death. This volume is the first to focus on the work of a single artist, and it features a wide range of essays that draw on the tremendous wealth of the Gallery’s collection and its collaborative scientific, scholarly, and conservation expertise. The essays include discussions of the notion of “finish” in Degas’s paintings, the complex makeup of his wax sculptures, the casting of posthumous bronzes, his innovative use of multiple layers of pastel and fixative in a later pastel on paper, etchings created in collaboration with Mary Cassatt, and even a sonnet that Degas wrote to his “little dancer.”
All volumes of Facture, including Degas, are available for purchase from the Gallery Shops.
Edgar Degas, Scene from the Steeplechase: The Fallen Jockey, 1866, reworked 1880–1881 and c. 1897, the under image is an infrared reflectogram (1100–1400 nm) exposing the various layers of the composition.
Edgar Degas, The Tub, c. 1889, pigmented beeswax, plastiline, plaster, lead, wood, cloth, cork, wire, on wooden base, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1985.64.48
Edgar Degas, Ballet Scene, c. 1907, pastel on greenish transparent tracing paper, Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.16
Edgar Degas, Little Dancer Aged Fourteen, plaster cast possibly 1920/1921, after original wax modelled 1878-1881, painted plaster, fabric, metal armature, on plaster base, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1985.64.62
Contents
Degas and Difficulty
Richard Kendall
The Question of Finish in the Work of Edgar Degas
Ann Hoenigswald and Kimberly A. Jones
Edgar Degas’ Wax Sculptures: Characterization and Comparison with Contemporary Practice
Suzanne Quillen Lomax, Barbara H. Berrie, Michael Palmer
Casting Degas’s Sculptures into Bronze: A Closer Look
Daphne Barbour and Shelley Sturman
Technical Exploration of Edgar Degas’ Ballet Scene: A late pastel on tracing paper
Michelle Facini, Kathryn A. Dooley, John K. Delaney, Suzanne Quillen Lomax, Michael Palmer
In Focus
Edgar Degas and Mary Cassatt: A Comparison of Drawings for Soft-Ground Etchings
Kimberly Schenck
The Little Dancer in Wax and Words: Reading a Sonnet by Edgar Degas
Alison Luchs
Conservation Division
National Gallery of Art
2000B South Club Drive
Landover, MD 20785
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