Woman Seated in Armchair Wiping Her Left Armpit 1890 - 1920

This is a bronze sculpture of a woman seated in an armchair wiping her left armpit, by Edgar Degas. Can’t you just feel the movement in this piece? Degas has caught her in a moment of private, personal action. I imagine him watching, almost voyeuristically, and then trying to capture it in clay. Think about what it must have felt like to work with that clay, pushing and pulling it to follow the contours of the human form. The surface has these rough, uneven textures that speak to the artist's touch. The materiality of the bronze is so present; it's all about the act of making. Look at how the body is caught in this twisting pose, one arm raised, and the musculature rendered through these quick, gestural marks. Degas was so interested in the human form, and he’s really exploring the possibilities of what sculpture could do. Artists are always talking to each other across time, building on ideas, and pushing boundaries. Art’s an open-ended conversation, where there are no fixed answers, and where meaning is always evolving.