Edgar Degas
Degas's only showing of sculpture during his life took place in 1881 when he exhibited "The Little Dancer of Fourteen Years". A nearly life-size wax figure with real hair and dressed in a cloth tutu, it provoked a strong reaction from critics, most of whom found its realism extraordinary but denounced the dancer as ugly. In a review, J.-K. Huysmans wrote: "The terrible reality of this statuette evidently produces uneasiness in the spectators; all their notions about sculpture, about those cold inanimate whitenesses ... are here overturned. The fact is that with his first attempt Monsieur Degas has revolutionized the traditions of sculpture as he has long since shaken the conventions of painting."
The Four Little Girls
The Four Little Girls ("Les Quatre Petites Filles") is a play written in French by the painter Pablo Picasso. It is the second of two full-length plays written by Picasso, the first being "Desire Caught by the Tail". Written between November 24, 1947, and August 13, 1948, it was published in 1949. In 1952 Picasso wrote a second version of the play using the same title.