Fan Mount: The Ballet 1879

Curator: At the Metropolitan Museum of Art, we're standing before Edgar Degas' "Fan Mount: The Ballet" from 1879. Editor: My initial response is to the elegant curve. It lends a sense of movement, mimicking perhaps, the very gestures it seeks to portray. Curator: Indeed. Consider the societal role of ballet in late 19th-century Paris. Degas was not simply painting dancers; he was capturing a performative space, a site of constructed femininity and often, male gaze. The fan itself as an object becomes part of this narrative, mediating social interactions. Editor: I find myself captivated by the formal interplay between light and shadow, though. Note how the delicate washes create depth and form despite the limited palette. The dancers appear almost spectral. Curator: Yes, and thinking about spectrality allows us to investigate how gender and labor operate in these performance spaces. Who were these dancers, and what were their social and economic realities outside of the stage? How did this reinforce their otherness within that particular historical period? Editor: Yet, the brushstrokes retain a sense of spontaneity that one associates with Impressionism. The surface treatment breaks down conventional forms to prioritize subjective sensory experiences, almost inviting us to look beyond narrative... Curator: I do agree that the Impressionistic treatment offers an interesting access point for engaging with his paintings on a sensorial level. Yet his artworks always encourage us to ask uncomfortable questions about labor, spectatorship, and the performative nature of identity. Degas makes it difficult for us to settle for easy answers. Editor: I concede to this perspective. It truly seems he masterfully uses the techniques and aesthetics of painting to construct that discourse in an innovative way. Curator: The layered context invites you to bring it back to the space where this was exhibited; as we leave, how does our awareness change?