Ballerina Posing for a Photographer

Last updated
Ballerina Posing for a Photographer
Edgar Germain Hilaire Degas 020.jpg
Artist Edgar Degas
Year1875
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions65 cm× 50 cm(26 in× 20 in)
Location Pushkin Museum, Moscow

Ballerina Posing for a Photographer is an oil on canvas painting by Edgar Degas, from 1875. It depicts a young ballet dancer posing in front of a standing mirror; in the background, through a large window, is seen an elevated view of the walls of the houses opposite and the snow-covered rooftops of Paris. It is held in the Pushkin Museum, in Moscow. [1] [2]

Contents

Description

In this work, Degas's relentless eye captures a sparsely furnished interior with a ballerina standing on a grayish wooden floor as the object of his attention. She is not displaying herself for an audience, but for a photographer who came to immortalize her in her work: therefore, she is looking for a nice position with the help of a mirror. As in other works by Degas, the dancer's gesture is not taken at the intense moment of an artistic performance, but when her limbs, exhausted, assume a strangely deformed, almost grotesque aspect. [3]

Provenance

The painting was first exhibited in London in the Spring of 1875. It was sold by Durand-Ruel in 1902 to the Russian collector Sergei Shchukin for 35,000 francs, who displayed his extensive private collection to the public at his palace in 1909. After the Revolution in 1917, Shchukin left Russia and his collection was nationalized and his palace became a museum. In 1923 the collection was merged with that of Iwan Morozov. In 1948, they were divided between Moscow and Leningrad (Saint Petersburg) and the Degas piece ended up in the Pushkin Museum. [4]

Preparatory drawing Edgar Degas - Study for a dancer with arms raised (chalk, 1874) - 2.jpg
Preparatory drawing

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pushkin Museum</span> Museum of European art in Moscow

The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts is the largest museum of European art in Moscow. located in Volkhonka street, just opposite the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. The International musical festival Sviatoslav Richter's December nights has been held in the Pushkin Museum since 1981.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edgar Degas</span> French Impressionist artist (1834–1917)

Edgar Degas was a French Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hermitage Museum</span> Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia

The State Hermitage Museum is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It was founded in 1764 when Empress Catherine the Great acquired a collection of paintings from the Berlin merchant Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky. The museum celebrates the anniversary of its founding each year on 7 December, Saint Catherine's Day. It has been open to the public since 1852. The Art Newspaper ranked the museum 10th in their list of the most visited art museums, with 2,812,913 visitors in 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louis Mérante</span> Ballet dancer, teacher and choreographer (Paris Opera)

Louis Alexandre Mérante was a dancer and choreographer, the Maître de Ballet of the Paris Opera Ballet at the Salle Le Peletier until its destruction by fire in 1873, and subsequently the first Ballet Master at the company's new Palais Garnier, which opened in 1875. He is best remembered as the choreographer of Léo Delibes' Sylvia, ou la nymphe de Diane (1876). With Arthur Saint-Léon and Jules Perrot, he is one of the three choreographers who defined the French ballet tradition during the Second French Empire and the Third Republic according to choreographer Pierre Lacotte.

<i>Little Dancer of Fourteen Years</i> Sculpture by Edgar Degas

The Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer is a sculpture begun c. 1880 by Edgar Degas of a young student of the Paris Opera Ballet dance school, a Belgian named Marie van Goethem.

<i>The Conversation</i> (Matisse) Painting by Henri Matisse

The Conversation, a painting by Henri Matisse dating from 1908 to 1912, depicts the artist and his wife facing each other before a background of intense blue. It is in the collection of the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

<i>Window at Tangier</i> 1912 painting by Henri Matisse

Window at Tangier; also referred to as La Fenêtre à Tanger, Paysage vu d'une fenêtre, and Landscape viewed from a window, Tangiers, is a painting by Henri Matisse, executed in 1912. It is held at the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow.

<i>The Bellelli Family</i> Painting by Edgar Degas

The Bellelli Family, also known as Family Portrait, is an oil painting on canvas by Edgar Degas (1834–1917), painted c. 1858–1867, and housed in the Musée d'Orsay. A masterwork of Degas' youth, the painting is a portrait of his aunt, her husband, and their two young daughters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sergei Shchukin</span> Russian art collector (1854–1936)

Sergei Ivanovich Shchukin was a Russian businessman who became an art collector, mainly of French Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art.

<i>Venus with a Mirror</i> Painting by Titian

Venus with a Mirror is a painting by Titian, now in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, and it is considered to be one of the collection's highlights.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ivan Morozov (businessman)</span> Russian businessman and art collector

Ivan Abramovich Morozov was a Russian businessman and, from 1907 to 1914, a major collector of avant-garde French art.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">State Museum of Oriental Art</span> Art museum in Moscow, Russia

The State Museum of Oriental Art is one of the biggest cultural institutions in the world for preservation, research, and display of Oriental art. The museum was founded in 1918 as a part of soviet programme to support unique cultures of USSR subdivisions. Since 1970 the museum is located in the centre of Moscow in the historical building known as the Lunins' House, a private residence built in the early 19th century by the famous architect Domenico Gilardi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pyotr Shchukin</span> Russian art collector

Pyotr Ivanovich Shchukin was an art collector who built an important collection of Russian ancient art and artifacts and owned several impressionist masterpieces.

<i>Yvonne and Christine Lerolle at the Piano</i> 1897 painting by Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Yvonne and Christine Lerolle at the Piano is an 1897 oil painting by the French painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir representing his late work period (1892–1919). It is kept at the Musée de l'Orangerie in Paris.

<i>Blue Dancers</i> Pastel by Edgar Degas

Blue Dancers is an 1897 pastel by Edgar Degas. It is held in the Pushkin Museum, in Moscow, which it entered in 1948 from the State Museum of Modern Western Art. It was in Durand-Ruel's collection and then until 1918 in Sergei Shchukin's collection in Moscow.

<i>Girl on a Ball</i> 1905 painting by Pablo Picasso

Girl on a Ball or Young Acrobat on a Ball is a 1905 oil on canvas painting by Pablo Picasso, which he produced during his Rose Period. It depicts a group of travelling circus performers during a rehearsal, with a primary focus on two contrasting figures. It has been housed in the collection of the Pushkin Museum in Moscow since 1948.

<i>Arab Coffeehouse</i> Painting by Henri Matisse

Arab Coffeehouse, is an oil-on-canvas painting by French visual artist Henri Matisse. Produced in 1913, Arab Coffeehouse was part of a series of goldfish paintings that Matisse produced in the 1910s and 1920s.

<i>The Banks of the Marne</i> Painting by Paul Cézanne

The Banks of the Marne is an oil on canvas painting of the bridge at Créteil on the River Marne by Paul Cézanne, created in 1888. It is held in the Pushkin Museum, in Moscow.

<i>Pipe Smoker Leaning on a Table</i> Painting by Paul Cézanne

Pipe Smoker Leaning on a Table is an oil on canvas painting by Paul Cézanne, created in 1895-1900. It is held in the Pushkin Museum, in Moscow.

References

  1. "Catalogue entry".
  2. Giovanna Rocchi, Giovanna Vitali, Degas, Florence, Rizzoli, 2003, p. 120 (Italian)
  3. Giovanna Rocchi, Giovanna Vitali, Degas, Florence, Rizzoli, 2003, p. 120 (Italian)
  4. Georg W. Költzsch, Morosow-Shchukin, die Sammler, Cologne, Folkwang Museum, Dumont, 1993 (German)