Edgar Degas, Leaving the Bath (La sortie du bain), 14th state, c. 1879–80, drypoint and aquatint on wove paper. The Clark, 1971.39

Leaving the Bath originated in an evening Degas spent in the home of Alexis Rouart, brother of the artist’s closest friend Henri Rouart, who was a world-renowned inventor and engineer. Degas made this print with a carbon rod, an important element of early electric lamps, which he likely found in the Rouart factory (located in the same compound as Alexis Rouart’s apartment). Henri Rouart had been working for years on refining the design and manufacture of these carbon rods.

Similarly, Degas continued revising Leaving the Bath relentlessly over a series of at least twenty-two variations (called “states”), more than he made for any other print. In each state, Degas intensified his work on the copperplate or burnished it away, thereby emphasizing different degrees of contrast between dark and light and causing some details to emerge and others to recede.