Edgar DEGAS (1834-1917) - Lot 62

Edgar DEGAS (1834-1917) Three dancers Charcoal drawing, signed lower left 73 x 51.5 cm Provenance : - Atelier Edgar Degas (3rd sale), April 7, 8 and 9, 1919, Paris, n°257. - Sale Ader Picard Tajan, Hôtel Georges V, Paris, June 17, 1976, n°8 Bibliography : - A. Lemoisne, Degas et son oeuvre, P. Brame and C.M. de Hauke, Paris 1946-1949, volume III, cited as a study in connection with n°1250, 1251 and 1252. - To be included in Michel Schulman's digital catalog raisonné of Edgar Degas under no. MS-3011 Dancers were one of Edgar Degas' favorite subjects. Throughout his artistic life, he haunted the Paris Opera, both in the hall and backstage. He knew every nook and cranny of the Palais Garnier and loved to capture the backstage, multiplying sketches captured on the spot. Our dancers, seen at mid-body - the sketched skirt of the first hides those of the other two - are backstage. At the edge of the stage, concealed by a curtain visible in the pastels, the three dancers are huddled together, the better to follow the ballet. Their faces are turned in the same direction, their gazes converging on a spectacle hidden from us. On the lookout, they seem ready to take to the stage. Various names have been given to the same subject: Three Dancers, but also Group of Dancers and Three Red Dancers, which are generally pastels or pastels and charcoal on paper. Our Trois danseuses charcoal is to be compared with other works that are today either in private collections or in important museums.