Little Dancer of Fourteen Years
The "Little Dancer" wax sculpture we see today is a reworked version of the original sculpture that was shown in 1881. After seeing the wax sculpture in Degas’ living quarters in April 1903, the New York collector Louisine Havemeyer expressed interest in buying the wax. After proposing a bronze or cast wax of the sculpture, which Mrs. Havemeyer refused, Degas took his wax figure upstairs to his working studio and told Vollard he was reworking the sculpture for Havemeyer for 40,000 francs. Degas never sold the sculpture to Mrs. Havemeyer. After Degas died, it was found in a corner of his studio. Paul Lefond, Degas’ biographer, described the "Little Dancer" wax after Degas’ death as "nothing but a ruin;" and Mary Cassatt telegraphed Mrs. Havemeyer "Statue Bad Condition." However, the wax sculpture we know today is not a ruin. It is Degas' reworked second version of his wax figure. At some point before Degas extensively reworked his sculpture, he allowed a plaster to be cast from the wax figure. This recently re-discovered plaster records the "Little Dancer"’s original pose, bodice, and hairdo. The plaster is now in a private collection in the United States.
Little Dancer of Fourteen Years
Art historian Richard Kendall published a scholarly account of the history of Degas's sculpture, "Degas and the Little Dancer", with contributions by Douglas Druick and Arthur Beale. The BBC Two documentary "The Private Life of a Masterpiece: Little Dancer Aged Fourteen", produced in 2004, closely examines the sculpture, the model, the circumstances of her life, and the critical reaction to the work. Cathy Marie Buchanan's novel, "The Painted Girls", presents a fictionalised account of the life of Marie van Goethem, the model for the sculpture, as does Carolyn Meyer's young adult novel "Marie, Dancing" and Laurence Anholt's children's picture book "Degas and the Little Dancer". In 2014, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. premiered the stage musical, "Little Dancer", inspired by the story of the young ballerina immortalized by Edgar Degas in his famous sculpture. On September 12, 2016, Dr. Gregory Hedberg presented a paper entitled "Unraveling the Mysteries of Degas’ "Little Dancer, Aged Fourteen"," at the French Institute, Alliance Français, in New York City.