Little Dancer

The extent of Degas' participation in this milieu, however, has remained a matter
of uncertainty for many, exacerbated by his reputation as an untaught modeler and
- with the solitary exception of the Little Dancer - a reluctant exhibitor.

In his 1976 monograph on the artist, Charles Millard asserted that "Degas'
sculpture is a very paradigm of the development of sculpture in nineteenthcentury
France, a resume of its statements and problems, its exploratory and
modern strains."

"A wax dancer whose naturalism is strangely attractive, troubling, ..."

If the latter, how well acquainted was Degas with the
crosscurrents of opinion in the contemporary medium, and how appropriate or
otherwise was his contribution to them?

If, as we increasingly believe, Degas' experiments in wax, clay, and
mixed materials were openly conducted, often in the company of friends who
were professionals; if certain of his finished models were proudly presented in his
apartment and almost casually accessible in his studio to visiting artists, critics, and
2

As
an amateur embarking on the first large-scale sculpture of his career, Degas - like
his successors - was obliged to confront the simplest practical matters as well as the
grander pretensions of his project.

At a technical level, there was the challenge of
constructing the meter-high wax figure - a formidable task for a virtual beginner
- and of dressing it in specially made, reduced-scale tutu, bodice, wig, and dancing
shoes.

Was Degas making this image
of a young dancer to assist him with his picture making, in the way that his later
wax horses, ballerinas, and bather-figures appear to have been conceived, or was
it intended from the start for public display, as a bold intervention in the sculptural
exchanges of his day?

The extent of Degas' participation in this milieu, however, has remained a matter
of uncertainty for many, exacerbated by his reputation as an untaught modeler and
- with the solitary exception of the Little Dancer - a reluctant exhibitor.

Common to all these considerations was an even more fundamental
question: that of the status of Degas' semi-private modeling venture in the very
competitive world of nineteenth-century sculpture.