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."
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.