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.”

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