Hilaire-Germain-Edgar Degas
French, 1834–1917
Little Dancer Aged Fourteen
modeled 1879–81, cast 1919–21
When Degas’s Little Dancer Aged Fourteen was first exhibited at the 1881 Impressionist exhibition—modeled in wax, with a real tutu and real hair—reaction was mixed. The figure’s awkward limbs and inscrutable expression seemed at odds with the traditional image of the elegant ballerina. Some critics called the sculpture “hideously ugly,” while others applauded its realism. This bronze was cast from the wax original after Degas’s death.
Medium | bronze with gauze tutu and silk ribbon, on wooden base |
Dimensions | Height: 39 in. (99 cm) |
Object Number | 1955.45 |
Acquisition | Acquired by Sterling and Francine Clark before 1955 |
Status | On View |
Image Caption
Hilaire-Germain-Edgar Degas, Little Dancer Aged Fourteen, modeled 1879–81, cast 1919–21, bronze with gauze tutu and silk ribbon, on wooden base. Clark Art Institute, 1955.45
Select Bibliography
Goudy, Alice M. "Four Collectors in Philadelphia." Art News 49, no, 4 (Summer 1950): 28–31.
Frankfurter, Alfred M. "The Goetz Collection." Art News 50, no. 5 (September 1951): 26–31. Amsterdam: Stedelijk Museum. Edgar Degas. Cat. 87. Amsterdam. 1951. London: Marlborough Fine Art, Ltd.. The Complete Collection of Sculptures by Edgar Degas.. Dec. 7-22, 1951.. Daniel Catton Rich. Edgar-Hilaire-German Degas.. New York: Abrams.. 1951. Rothenstein, Sir John. "The Tate Gallery: Recent Acquisitions." The Studio 147 (January–June 1954): 1–9. Pierre Michaut.. "Immortalized in Sculpture.". Dance.. Aug. 1954.. New York: M. Knoedler & Co. Edgar Degas: Original Wax Sculptures.. Nov. 9-Dec. 3, 1955.. Margaret Breuning.. "Wax Sculpture at Knoedler Gallery.". Arts, 30.. (Dec. 1955).. Paris: Gazette des Beaux-Arts.. Degas dans les collections françaises.. 1955.. Hilton Kramer.. "Month in Review: Works of Degas in the Exhibition of Modern Sculpture at the Metropolitan Museum.". Arts, 31.. (Sept. 1957).. Dorothy Gees Seckler.. "Auctions Here and Abroad.". Art in America, 45, no. 3.. (Fall 1957).. Anonymous. "The Niarchos Collection." Arts 32, no, 2 (November 1957): 40–45. Pierre Cabanne.. Edgar Degas. Trans. by Michael Lee Landa.. Paris: Editions Pierre Tisné.. 1958.. Ronald Alley.. Tate Gallery Catalogue: The Foreign Paintings, Drawings, and Sculptures.. London: Shenval Press.. 1959.. Louisine Havemeyer.. Sixteen to Sixty: Memoirs of a Collector.. New York: privately printed for family of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.. 1961.. John Rewald.. The History of Impressionism.. New York: Museum of Modern Art.. 1961, 1973.. Phoebe Pool.. Degas.. London: Spring Books.. 1963.. R. H. Wilenski.. Modern French Painters, 4th ed.. London: Faber & Faber.. 1963.. Haavard Rostrup.. Modern Sculpture: Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek.. Copenhagen: Moderne Afdeling.. 1964.. Rothenstein, Sir John. "My Years at the Tate. The Studio 169, no, 862 (February 1965): 72–77. Jean Bouret.. Degas.. London: Thames and Hudson.. 1965.. . European Art in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.. Richmond: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.. 1966.. . Treasures of the Louvre: From the Renaissance to Impressionism.. New York: G. P. Putnam.. 1966.. Lillian Browse.. "Degas, Grand Passion.". Apollo, ns 85.. (Feb. 1967).. Fred Licht.. Sculpture: 19th & 20th Centuries.. Greenwich (CT): New York Graphic Society.. 1967.. Paris: Orangerie des Tuileries.. Degas: Oeuvres du Musée du Louvre.. June 27-Sept. 15, 1969.. Minervino, Fiorella, and Franco Russoli. L'Opera completa di Degas. Milan: Rizzoli, 1970. Parke-Bernet Galleries, Inc. Advertisement. The Burlington Magazine 113, no. 817 (April 1971): xxxviii–lvi. Parke-Bernet Galleries, Inc. Advertisement. Connoisseur 176.. (April 1971). New York: Parke Bernet Galleries.. . May 5, 1971.. Anonymous. "Conseils des Acheteurs." Connaissance des Arts no. 233 (Juillet 1971): 89–92. Anonymous. "International Saleroom." Connoisseur 178, no. 716 (October 1971): 144–46. E. John Bullard.. Degas.. New York: McGraw-Hill.. 1971..Anonymous. "La Chronique des Arts." Gazette des Beaux-Arts 79, no, 1237 (supplement, February 1972).
Terrasse, Antoine. Degas. Garden City (NY): Doubleday. 1972. Tucker, William. "Gravity, Rodin, Degas." Studio International 186 (July 1973). Money, Ernle. "Seventy Years of the NA-CF." Connoisseur 184, no. 741 (November 1973): 175–79. Dallas (TX) Museum of Fine Arts.. The Degas Bronzes.. Feb. 6-March 24, 1974.. Boston (MA): Museum of Fine Arts. Edgar Degas, The Reluctant Impressionist. June 20-Sept. 1, 1974. Cat. by Barbara S. Shapiro. Butler, Joseph T. "The Degas Bronzes." Connoisseur 186, no. 749 (July 1974): 219–20. S. Hochfield.. "Problems in the Reproduction of Sculpture.". Art News, 73.. (Nov. 1974).. William Tucker.. The Language of Sculpture.. London: Thames & Hudson.. 1974.. Cowart, Jack. "A Sculpture and a Pastel by Edgar Degas." St. Louis Art Museum Bulletin (JanuaryFebruary 1975). Theodore Reff.. "Edgar Degas' Little Ballet Dancer of Fourteen Years.". Arts, 51.. (Sept. 1976).. Alex Reid & Lefevre. Advertisement. Apollo n.s. 104, no. 177 (November 1976). Alex Reid & Lefevre. Advertisement for Degas: The Complete Sculptures, 18th November–21st December 1976 at the Lefevre Gallery. The Burlington Magazine 118, no. 884 (November 1976). Lefevre Fine Art, Ltd. Advertisement for Degas: The Complete Sculptures, 18 November–21 December 1976. Connoisseur 193, no. 777 (Nov. 1976): 17. London: The Lefevre Gallery.. The Complete Sculptures of Edgar Degas.. Nov. 18-Dec. 21, 1976.. Charles W. Millard.. The Sculpture of Edgar Degas.. Princeton (NJ): Princeton University Press.. 1976.. Theodore Reff.. Degas, The Artist's Mind.. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Harper & Row.. 1976.. . French Masterpieces of the 19th Century from the Henry P. McIlhenny Collection. Allentown (PA) Art Museum. May 1-Sept. 18, 1977..Princeton University Press. Advertisement. Art News 76, no. 5 (May 1977).
Princeton University Press. Advertisement. The Burlington Magazine 119, no. 891 (June 1977): lxxxviii–lxxxix. Jullien, Philippe. "Les Deux Visages d'une Collection." Connaissance des Arts no. 305 (Juillet 1977): 22–28. Princeton University Press. Advertisement. Art Journal 36, no. 4 (Summer 1977). Elsen, Albert. "Review of 'The Sculpture of Edgar Degas' by Charles W. Millard. Art in America, 65. (Summer 1977).. Kirk Varnedoe.. "On Degas Sculpture.". Arts, 52.. (Nov. 1977).. Richmond (VA) Museum of Fine Arts.. Degas. May 23-July 9, 1978. Theodore Reff.. "Edgar Degas and the Dance.". Arts, 53.. (Nov. 1978).. Jean-Jacques Lévêque.. Edgar Degas.. Paris: Editions Siloé.. 1978.. Patricia Failing.. "The Degas Bronzes Degas Never Knew.". Art News, 78.. (April 1979).. Northampton (MA): Smith College Museum of Art. Degas and the Dance. April 5-May 27, 1979. Edinburgh: National Galleries of Scotland. Degas. Aug. 13-Sept. 30, 1979. Edinburgh International Festival. Cat. by Ronald Pickvance. Dunlop, Ian. Degas. New York: Harper & Row; London: Thames & Hudson, 1979. Maurice Rheims.. Histoire mondiale de la sculpture: Dix-neuvième siècle.. Tokyo: Hachette Réalités.. 1979.. . . 11. Artweek. (April 19, 1980).. Kirk Varnedoe.. "The Ideology of Time: Degas and Photography.". Art in America.. Summer 1980.:pp. 96-110.. Peter Fusco and H. W. Janson, eds.. The Romantics to Rodin.. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art.. 1980.. Eugénie de Keyser.. Degas: Réalité et Métaphore.. Louvain-La-Neuve: Institut Supérieur d'Archéologie et d'histoire de l'art, Collège Érasme.. 1981.. John Rewald. Degas Sculpture: The Complete Works.. Zürich: Thames and Hudson.. 1957. Cowling, Elizabeth, and Richard Kendall. Picasso Looks at Degas. Exhibition catalogue. Williamstown, MA.: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute; Barcelona: Museu Picasso, 2010. Gardner, Albert Ten Eyck. "Arabesques in Bronze." The Metropolitan Museum Bulletin, New Series vol. 4, no. 5 (Jan. 1946): 131–35.Provenance
Robert Sterling Clark (probably in the 1920s–1955); Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1955.