In 1899, Degas produced a series of compositions devoted to dancers in Ukrainian folk dress, in which he fused color, line, and interlocking forms to create tapestry-like pictures. Degas called them his "orgies of color." This figure was excerpted from a fully developed pastel of the same year (private collection), but the present work was almost certainly made by Degas as an independent drawing intended for ready sale. Another work from the series is in the Metropolitan’s Robert Lehman collection (1975.1.166). The subject reflects the surge of French interest in the art and culture of Ukraine, then part of the Russian Empire, following France's political alliance with that Empire in 1894.
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Title:Dancer in Ukrainian Dress
Artist:Edgar Degas (French, Paris 1834–1917 Paris)
Date:1899
Medium:Pastel over charcoal on tracing paper
Dimensions:24 3/8 x 18 in. (61.9 x 45.7 cm)
Classification:Drawings
Credit Line:H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929
Object Number:29.100.556
Inscription: Signed (lower left): Degas
[Ambroise Vollard, Paris, until 1906; sold May or June 1906 to Havemeyer]; Mr. and Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, New York (1906–his d. 1907); Mrs. H. O. (Louisine W.) Havemeyer, New York (1907–d. 1929; cat., 1931, pp. 185–86, ill.)
New York. Grolier Club. "Prints, Drawings and Bronzes by Degas," January 26–February 28, 1922, no. 82 (as "Danseuse espagnole en jupe rose," probably this picture).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The H. O. Havemeyer Collection," March 10–November 2, 1930, no. 154 [2nd ed., 1958, no. 124].
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Degas in the Metropolitan," February 26–September 4, 1977, no. 50 (of works on paper).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Degas," September 27, 1988–January 8, 1989, no. 369.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Splendid Legacy: The Havemeyer Collection," March 27–June 20, 1993, no. A258.
London. National Gallery. "Degas, Beyond Impressionism," May 22–August 26, 1996, no. 92.
Art Institute of Chicago. "Degas, Beyond Impressionism," September 28, 1996–January 5, 1997, no. 92.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Cézanne to Picasso: Ambroise Vollard, Patron of the Avant-Garde," September 14, 2006–January 7, 2007, no. 56.
LOAN OF THIS WORK IS RESTRICTED.
Julie Manet. Journal entry. July 1, 1899 [published in Julie Manet, "Journal (1893–1899): Sa jeunesse parmi les peintres impressionnistes et les hommes de lettres," Librairie C. Klincksieck, Paris, 1979, p. 238], mentions that Degas is working on three pastels of Russian dancers which he describes as "orgies de couleurs".
Mary Cassatt. Letter to Mrs. H. O. (Louisine W.) Havemeyer. June 2, 1906 [excerpts published in Ref. Stein 1993, pp. 242–43], mentions that Vollard is holding two Degas drawings for the Havemeyers, probably this work and "Dancer with a Fan" (MMA 29.100.557).
[Ambroise Vollard]. Degas: Quatre-vingt-dix-huit reproductions signées par Degas. Paris, 1914, pl. LXXXVII.
Daniel Halévy. "A Edgar Degas." Le Divan 7 (July 1919), p. 218, dates the series of Russian dancer pastels about 1892.
Henri Hertz. Degas. Paris, 1920, pl. XIII.
François Fosca. Les Albums d'art Druet. Vol. 6, Degas, 24 phototypies. Paris, [1927], pl. 5.
H. O. Havemeyer Collection: Catalogue of Paintings, Prints, Sculpture and Objects of Art. n.p., 1931, pp. 185–86, ill.
Georges Grappe. Degas. Paris, 1936, p. 42, ill., calls it "Ballet Russe".
Marguerite Rebatet. Degas. Paris, 1944, pl. 103.
P[aul]. A[ndré]. Lemoisne. Degas et son œuvre. [reprint 1984]. Paris, [1946–49], vol. 3, pp. 686, 688–89, no. 1184, ill., dates it 1895, stating that the series derives from a troupe of Russian dancers who performed in national costume at the Folies-Bergère that year; calls it a study for five pastels depicting groups of Russian dancers (L1181, L1182, L1183, L1187, L1188).
Lillian Browse. Degas Dancers. New York, [1949], pp. 64, 412–13, pl. 242, dates it 1909; identifies the dance as Le Hopak from Fokine's "Le Festin," a suite of Russian dances performed that year in Paris by Diaghilev's ballet company; calls it a study for one of the figures in the pastel "Three Russian Dancers" (Nationalmuseum, Stockholm; L1181).
Douglas Cooper. Pastels by Edgar Degas. New York, [1952?], p. 25, under no. 28, asserts that the series was made after the Russian folk dance troupe at the Folies-Bergère in 1895; disagrees with Browse [Ref. 1949], noting that Degas's blindness would have prevented him from executing the series in 1909.
Pierre Cabanne. Edgar Degas. Paris, [1957], pp. 45, 121, no. 144, pl. 144 [English ed., 1958, pp. 46, 123, no. 144, pl. 144], dates it 1895.
Stephen Longstreet. The Drawings of Degas. Los Angeles, 1964, unpaginated, ill.
Ronald Pickvance. Degas: Pastels and Drawings. Exh. cat., Nottingham University Art Gallery. Nottingham, 1969, unpaginated, under no. 30, dates the series of Russian dancers "considerably later than 1895" based on stylistic evidence, adding that 1909 is not improbable; mentions one theory that the series was inspired by the opera "Boris Godunov" [see Jean Sutherland Boggs, "Drawings by Degas," City Art Museum of Saint Louis, 1966, p. 226].
Fiorella Minervino inL'opera completa di Degas. Milan, 1970, pp. 134–35, no. 1079, ill., dates it "about 1895?".
Ian Dunlop. Degas. New York, 1979, pp. 222–23, considers the series to be based on the folk dance troupe at the Folies-Bergère in 1895.
Michael Edward Shapiro. "Three Late Works by Edgar Degas." Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston 8 (Spring 1982), pp. 10–11, fig. 2, discusses it as a study for "Russian Dancers" in the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (L1183) and observes that the individuality of this dancer becomes more abstract in the subsequent pastels.
Charles F. Stuckey inDegas: Form and Space. Ed. Maurice Guillaud. Exh. cat., Centre Culturel du Marais. Paris, 1984, pp. 56, 64 n. 212, dates the Russian Dancers series 1889 [typographical error for 1899] based on Julie Manet's [Ref. 1899] diary entry.
Götz Adriani. Degas: Pastels, Oil Sketches, Drawings. Exh. cat., Kunsthalle Tübingen. New York, 1985, p. 395, under no. 224, states that the Russian Dancers series is comprised of 14 pastels and 5 drawings; dates the series probably 1900–1905, arguing that Lemoisne [Ref. 1946] dates it too early and that Browse [Ref 1949] dates it too late in light of Degas's failing eyesight; calls Matisse's "Dance" paintings a counterpart to Degas's series.
Frances Weitzenhoffer. The Havemeyers: Impressionism Comes to America. New York, 1986, p. 167, mentions that Cassatt was confident that the Havemeyers "would like two drawings of dancers by Degas that she had asked Vollard to reserve for them" [probably this work and The Met 29.100.557; see Wold 1993].
Denys Sutton. Edgar Degas: Life and Work. New York, 1986, pp. 179, 182, discusses the difficulty in dating the Russian Dancers series.
Lisa R. Bixenstine. "Edgar Degas' Russian Dancers Series (1897–99): Their Dating, Pastel Technique, and Their Context within His Late Period (1885–1908)." PhD diss., Ohio State University, 1987, pp. 11–12, 70–71, pl. IV, discusses its pastel technique and the series on the whole, highlighting the popularity of Russian and Ukrainian culture during the Franco-Russian alliance in the late 1890s; argues that the dancers were Ukrainian, rather than Russian, and that Degas likely drew his inspiration from a performance by the Pierre Newsky Troupe at the Folies-Bergère in the winter of 1896–97.
Horst Keller. Edgar Degas. Munich, 1988, pp. 102, 138, pl. 125, dates it 1895.
Jean Sutherland Boggs inDegas. Exh. cat., Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Paris. New York, 1988, pp. 484, 581, 584–85, no. 369, ill. (color), dates it 1899, based on Ref. Manet 1899; considers it a study for the left foreground figure of the pastel in the collection of Mrs. Alexander Lewyt (L1187), which is probably one of the three described by Julie Manet.
Richard Thomson. "The Degas Exhibition in Ottawa and New York." Burlington Magazine 131 (April 1989), p. 295, agrees with Boggs's date of 1899.
Jean Sutherland Boggs and Anne Maheux. Degas Pastels. New York, 1992, p. 158.
Louisine W. Havemeyer. Sixteen to Sixty: Memoirs of a Collector. Ed. Susan Alyson Stein. 3rd ed. [1st ed. 1930, repr. 1961]. New York, 1993, pp. 257, 337 n. 376.
Susan Alyson Stein inSplendid Legacy: The Havemeyer Collection. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1993, pp. 242, 286, pl. 239, identifies it as one of two drawings mentioned by Mary Cassatt in a letter of June 2, 1906 [see Ref. Cassatt 1906] as being held for the Havemeyers by Vollard.
Gretchen Wold inSplendid Legacy: The Havemeyer Collection. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1993, pp. 337–38, no. A258, ill.
Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 460, ill.
Richard Kendall. Degas, Beyond Impressionism. Exh. cat., National Gallery. London, 1996, pp. 48, 104, 187, 276, 278, 304, 307 n. 134, p. 310 n. 101, no. 92, ill. p. 283 (color), dates it about 1899; mentions it in connection with Degas's shift in dealers from Durand-Ruel to Vollard, noting that Vollard interested the Havemeyers in this work in May or June 1906; comments that the less finished examples from the Russian Dancers series, such as this picture, were signed, sold, and meant to be exhibited "as self-contained works of art"; discusses the series in the context of a contemporary curiosity for folk art and "all things Russian," noting that although the models for the series are unknown, foreign dance troupes regularly performed in cabarets near Degas's studio in Montmartre.
Lillian Schacherl. Edgar Degas: Dancers and Nudes. Munich, 1997, pp. 67, 69, dates the Russian Dancers series about 1899 and suggests that they were inspired by operas with Russian folk dance sequences.
Richard R. Brettell and Natalie H. Lee. Monet to Moore: The Millennium Gift of Sara Lee Corporation. Exh. cat., Singapore Museum of Art. New Haven, 1999, pp. 34, 36 nn. 7, 12.
Jill DeVonyar and Richard Kendall. Degas and the Dance. Exh. cat., Detroit Institute of Arts. New York, 2002, pp. 248, 272, discuss the Russian Dancers series in the context of the popularity of historic and ethnic dancing in cabarets and vaudevilles before the turn of the century, proposing that Degas used some of these folk dancers as his models; describe the pastels and drawings "as studio studies that were gradually developed into a multi-hued sequence".
David Bomford et al. inArt in the Making: Degas. Exh. cat., National Gallery. London, 2004, p. 130, assert that the Russian dancers in the series are probably Ukrainian or Slavic and call them "anti-ballerinas".
Impressionist and Modern Art: Evening Sale. Christie's, New York
. November 3, 2004, p. 19, fig. 3 (color).
Rebecca A. Rabinow and Jayne S. Warman inCézanne to Picasso: Ambroise Vollard, Patron of the Avant-Garde. Ed. Rebecca A. Rabinow. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2006, p. 282, note that this picture and MMA 29.100.557 were bought by the Havemeyers for Fr 9,000 on May 4, 1906.
Gary Tinterow inCézanne to Picasso: Ambroise Vollard, Patron of the Avant-Garde. Ed. Rebecca A. Rabinow. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2006, fig. 171 (color).
Asher Ethan Miller inCézanne to Picasso: Ambroise Vollard, Patron of the Avant-Garde. Ed. Rebecca A. Rabinow. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2006, p. 347, no. 56, ill., records the sale of this work by Vollard to the Havemeyers as "May or June 1906," reflecting Vollard's notation of May 4 and Mary Cassatt's letter of June 2; notes that this work may have been the first of eight Russian dancer pictures owned by Vollard; agrees with Kendall [Ref. 1996] that it was made as an independent drawing intended for sale, rather than as a preparatory study for the pastel in the Lewyt collection, from which "the figure has been excerpted".
Alastair Macaulay. "Degas's Ballet Students Teach the Lessons of Their Art." New York Times (September 3, 2008), p. E1.
Paul Hayes Tucker inThe Robert Lehman Collection. Vol. 3, Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Paintings. New York, 2009, pp. 82–83 n. 20, fig. 6 (under no. 21), focuses on the related drawing by Degas in The Met's Lehman Collection (1975.1.166), offering a summary of the issues around dating the series and identifying the subject.
Richard Kendall and Jill DeVonyar. Degas and the Ballet: Picturing Movement. Exh. cat., Royal Academy of Arts. London, 2011, pp. 19, 227, 229–31, 237, call the series "one of the last great inventions of [Degas'] career"; citing Bixenstine 1987, note that Russian dance troupes performed in Paris in the late 1890s and could have been the painters' sources, as well as the Lumière brothers' films of Russian dancers; specify that the dancers were Ukrainian; state that the corresponding details about the dancers in the pastels indicate direct contact between Degas and the dancers; note that Bixenstine identifies one group of dancers at the Brasserie des Martyrs, a bar and restaurant near Degas' apartment and studio in Montmartre, in 1897; remark upon the artist's ability to start this new series on an ambitious scale despite his failing health and eyesight.
Marjorie Shelley. "A Disputed Pastel Reclaimed for Degas: 'Two Dancers, Half-Length'." Metropolitan Museum Journal 51 (2016), p. 144 n. 30.
Robin Pogrebin. "Defending Ukraine's Heritage: Museums Relabel Art and Artists Long Described as Russian to Reflect Their Cultural Roots." New York Times (March 18, 2023), p. C2, ill. p. C1 (color, installation shot).
Edward Helmore. "As The Met Reclassifies Russian Art as Ukrainian, Not Everyone is Convinced." Guardian (March 19, 2023) [https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/mar/19/metropolitan-museum-art-reclassifies-russian-art-ukrainian].
This picture was once thought to be a study for the left-hand figure in a pastel of three dancers (L1187), but it was most likely conceived as an independent work (see Boggs 1988, Kendall 1996, and Miller 2006). The subject was first documented in Julie Manet’s journal in 1899. She describes Degas showing her "trois pastels représentant des femmes en costumes russe" (three pastels representing women in Russian costumes). Vollard 1914, published during the artist’s lifetime, adopts the title Danseuse russe for this pastel. The catalogue for the Degas studio sale in 1919 uses the titles Danseuse russe, Danseuses russes, and Ballet russe for works in the series. The latter title suggests a connection to the Ballets Russes, the dance company developed by Sergei Diaghilev that performed throughout Europe and the Americas between 1909 and 1929. However, the publication of the Manet journal in 1979 proved that the series was begun a decade before the formation of the Ballets Russes, although it remains possible that some works were made later. Tucker 2009 summarizes the debates over the chronology of the works and their possible sources of inspiration. The identification of the subject as Russian was largely maintained through the early twenty-first century. Bixenstine 1987 was the first to relate the costumes and poses to Ukrainian folk dress and dance. Her argument is accepted and expanded in Bomford 2004, Tucker 2009, and Kendall and DeVonyar 2011, although they maintain the title of Russian Dancer(s). It has not been established if the dancers were themselves from Ukraine.
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