The Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer 1922

Edgar Degas (1834-1917) is primarily known as an Impressionist painter – but did you know he also experimented with sculpture? ‘The Little Dancer’ was the only sculpture he displayed publicly… and it was met with outrage during its 1881 exhibition. 😦 This image shows a painted bronze cast of Degas’ original sculpture, which was created in wax complete with real hair and real ballet slippers. This unconventional use of material conflicted with traditional perceptions of classical sculpture. Which materials do you think are most commonly associated with sculpture? 🪨 Degas’ sculpture depicts Marie van Goethem (1865-c.1900). Goethem was a Belgian ballet dancer training at the Paris Opera Ballet School. As a working-class student with a lack of financial security, she posed for Degas to earn additional money. However, the critical reaction to the completed sculpture ended her career. 🏫 Goethem is represented in a ballet position known as ‘fourth position at rest’. Her right leg is extended, creating a sense of dynamism. The viewer almost feels that she is about to spring into action. 💃 When it was first seen by critics, the sculpture was denounced as ‘hideously ugly’. Reviews emphasised the ‘hateful’, ‘depraved’, and ‘heinous’ appearance of the girl! This reaction might be difficult for us to understand today. The realism of the sculpture, with its uneven skin texture and out-of-place hair, would have been shocking to the nineteenth-century viewer who was accustomed to the perfectly idealised features of classical sculpture. 🏛️ The original wax sculpture was reproduced in bronze following Degas’ death in 1917. This work conceals a tragic history concerning the realities for working-class women in nineteenth-century Paris. It has been called the ‘first modern sculpture’, and is now one of Degas most famous works – with copies in various high-profile museum collections. What do you think of the work? 💭👇 Editor: Lucy Jude Grantham