Frieze of Dancers c. 1895

Edgar Degas made this Frieze of Dancers using pastel on paper, a medium that lends itself to capturing the fleeting moments he so loved to depict. Degas was fascinated by the ballet, not just the performance but also the backstage labor. The texture of the pastel allows him to capture the light on the dancers’ tutus and the powdery atmosphere of the rehearsal room. The dancers are caught in informal poses, adjusting their costumes and stretching, their bodies rendered with a loose, almost sketchy quality. Pastel, as a medium, allows for a directness and immediacy, a way to build up layers of color and tone with relatively little blending. You can almost see the artist’s hand at work, building up the forms with quick, energetic strokes. The dancers are, in a sense, made by hand, their ephemeral beauty rendered through the tactile process of applying pigment to paper. It is a reminder that even in the most glamorous of settings, labor and process are always at play.