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.
Singer with A Glove
Singer with A Glove by Edgar Degas, originally titled Chanteuse de Café, la chanteuse au gant, is a pastel drawing on canvas 53.2 x 41 cm from the year 1878. Degas himself was a French artist famous for not only pastels, but his paintings, sculptures, prints, and charcoal drawings as well. This pastel is part of a series of works that have cafe-concert singers as their subject. Degas was a habitué of those places, especially the Cafe des Ambassadeurs, and he uses them as the settings for many of his best works. He is drawn to the dramatic poses of performers and singers, especially when presented, as here, from very close up.