Edgar Degas
Degas's work was controversial, but was generally admired for its draftsmanship. His "La Petite Danseuse de Quatorze Ans", or "Little Dancer of Fourteen Years", which he displayed at the sixth Impressionist exhibition in 1881, was probably his most controversial piece; some critics decried what they thought its "appalling ugliness" while others saw in it a "blossoming". In part Degas' originality consisted in disregarding the smooth, full surfaces and contours of classical sculpture ... [and] in garnishing his little statue with real hair and clothing made to scale like the accoutrements for a doll. These relatively "real" additions heightened the illusion, but they also posed searching questions, such as what can be referred to as "real" when art is concerned. The suite of pastels depicting nudes that Degas exhibited in the eighth Impressionist Exhibition in 1886 produced "the most concentrated body of critical writing on the artist during his lifetime ... The overall reaction was positive and laudatory".
Maxime Dethomas
Lautrec featured Dethomas in his art with some frequency. On April 6, 1895, the former "Moulin Rouge" dancer Louise 'La Goulue' Weber commissioned two large canvases to adorn her travelling show's tent. Dethomas appears on the left-hand panel, with his back turned to the viewer. At around the same period, Toulouse-Lautrec declared "I will capture your immobility in places of pleasure", and over the course of one and a half years, he made numerous preparatory sketches of Dethomas intended for a single painting, each taking anywhere from five to fifteen minutes to create. Completed in 1896, the famous portrait of "Maxime Dethomas at the Bal de l'Opera" now hangs in the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.. Another portrait of his friend took the form of a risque lithograph entitled "Debauche Avec Dethomas", and was later used on the cover of an exhibition catalogue of June, 1896. Finally, an 1896 lithograph entitled "Anna Held et Baldy" also features Dethomas, leering provocatively at the famous stage performer. Toulouse-Lautrec gifted a copy of this lithograph to Dethomas, which he retained until his death. During the final years of Toulouse-Lautrec's descent into full-blown alcoholism, Dethomas would rarely leave his side, often escorting him to his Montmartre home at the end of long drinking sessions. Toulouse-Lautrec's final convalescence at Madrid-les-Bains and Bordeaux in the months leading up to his death, prompted Dethomas to make one last journey for his old friend, their friendship lasting until the very end.