Two well-known personalities in the art world, the writer Edmond Duranty and model Emma Dobigny, posed for this early genre scene by Degas, set in an office, possibly a small bank. From the faithfully copied British racing print to the stylishly attired female protagonist, it recalls the work of fellow artist James Tissot. Yet for all the exacting detail, the subject of this picture remains elusive. The model’s elegant visiting dress, curiously worn without a hat, and the informality of her pose may suggest a familial or intimate relationship, but Degas offers faint clue as to the cause of his "sulking."
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Title:Sulking
Artist:Edgar Degas (French, Paris 1834–1917 Paris)
Date:ca. 1870
Medium:Oil on canvas
Dimensions:12 3/4 x 18 1/4 in. (32.4 x 46.4 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929
Accession Number:29.100.43
Inscription: Signed (lower right): E. Degas
[Durand-Ruel, Paris; received on deposit from the artist on December 27, 1895; deposit no. 8848, as "Bouderie"; bought from the artist on April 28, 1897, for Fr 13,500; stock no. 4191; sold to Durand-Ruel, New York, for Havemeyer]; [Durand-Ruel, New York, 1896; stock no. 1646; sold on December 15, 1896, for $4,500 to Havemeyer]; Mr. and Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, New York (1896–his d. 1907); Mrs. H. O. (Louisine W.) Havemeyer, New York (1907–d. 1929; cat., 1931, pp. 110–11, ill.)
Paris. Durand-Ruel. "Degas," 1896 [see Saunier 1896 and Kendall 1996].
New York. M. Knoedler & Co. "Loan Exhibition of Masterpieces by Old and Modern Painters," April 6–24, 1915, no. 25 (as "The Dispute," lent anonymously).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The H. O. Havemeyer Collection," March 10–November 2, 1930, no. 46 (as "Pouting [La Bouderie]") [2nd ed., 1958, no. 110]).
Philadelphia. Pennsylvania Museum of Art. "Degas, 1834–1917," November 7–December 7, 1936, no. 19 (as "Pouting. La bouderie").
Paris. Musée de l'Orangerie. "Degas," March 1–May 20, 1937, no. 11.
Paris. Palais National des Arts. "Chefs d'œuvre de l'art français," July–September 1937, no. 299.
Minneapolis Institute of Arts. "Degas's Portraits of his Family and Friends," March 6–28, 1948, unnum. checklist (as "Pouting").
Springfield, Mass. Springfield Museum of Fine Arts. "Fifteen Fine Paintings in Honor of the Fifteenth Anniversary," October 7–November 7, 1948, unnumbered cat. (as "Pouting").
New York. Wildenstein. "A Loan Exhibition of Degas," April 7–May 14, 1949, no. 28 (as "Bouderie [Pouting]").
Seattle Art Museum. March 7–May 6, 1951, no catalogue?
New York. Wildenstein & Co., Inc. "Degas's Racing World," March 21–April 27, 1968, no. 6 (as "Sulking").
New York. Wildenstein. "From Realism to Symbolism: Whistler and His World," March 4–April 3, 1971, no. 64 (as "Sulking [Bouderie] [Le Banquier]").
Philadelphia Museum of Art. "From Realism to Symbolism: Whistler and His World," April 15–May 23, 1971, no. 64.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Degas in the Metropolitan," February 26–September 4, 1977, no. 10 (of paintings).
Richmond. Virginia Museum. "Degas," May 23–July 9, 1978, no. 6 (as "Sulking [The Banker]").
Edinburgh. National Gallery of Scotland. "Degas 1879," August 13–September 30, 1979, no. 38.
Paris. Galeries nationales du Grand Palais. "Degas," February 9–May 16, 1988, no. 85.
Ottawa. National Gallery of Canada. "Degas," June 16–August 28, 1988, no. 85.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Degas," September 27, 1988–January 8, 1989, no. 85.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Splendid Legacy: The Havemeyer Collection," March 27–June 20, 1993, no. A201.
Paris. Galeries nationales du Grand Palais. "Impressionnisme: Les origines, 1859–1869," April 19–August 8, 1994, no. 67 (as "Bouderie [Sulking]").
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Origins of Impressionism," September 27, 1994–January 8, 1995, no. 67.
Washington. National Gallery of Art. "Degas at the Races," April 12–July 12, 1998, no. 25.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Edgar Degas, Photographer," October 9, 1998–January 3, 1999, unnumbered cat.
Los Angeles. J. Paul Getty Museum. "Edgar Degas, Photographer," February 2–March 28, 1999, unnumbered cat.
Paris. Bibliothèque Nationale de France. "Edgar Degas, Photographer," May 11–August 22, 1999, unnumbered cat.
Museu de Arte de São Paulo. "Degas: o Universo de um Artista," May 17–August 20, 2006, unnumbered cat. (pp. 168–69).
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. "The Masterpieces of French Painting from The Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1800–1920," February 4–May 6, 2007, no. 64.
Berlin. Neue Nationalgalerie. "Französische Meisterwerke des 19. Jahrhunderts aus dem Metropolitan Museum of Art," June 1–October 7, 2007, unnumbered cat.
Dublin. National Gallery of Ireland. "Impressionist Interiors," May 10–August 10, 2008, no. 12.
Paris. Musée d'Orsay. "L'Impressionnisme et la Mode," September 25, 2012–January 20, 2013, no. 20.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Impressionism, Fashion, and Modernity," February 26–May 7, 2013, no. 5.
Art Institute of Chicago. "Impressionism, Fashion, and Modernity," June 26–September 29, 2013, no. 5.
Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe. "Degas: Klassik und Experiment," November 8, 2014–February 15, 2015, no. 39.
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. "Degas: A New Vision," October 16, 2016–January 16, 2017, unnumbered cat.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Manet / Degas," September 24, 2023–January 7, 2024, unnumbered cat. (colorpl. 90).
Charles Saunier. "Beaux-Arts. Petites expositions." Revue encyclopédique no. 149 (July 11, 1896), p. 481, calls it a portrait and a scene of affectionate intimacy; observes in it Degas's admiration for Ingres.
George Moore. "Degas." Kunst und Künstler 6 (1908), ill. p. 142, as "Am Schreibtisch".
Georges Lecomte. "La crise de la peinture française." L'art et les artistes 12 (October 1910), ill. p. 27, as "Bouderie".
Paul Lafond. Degas. Vol. 1, Paris, 1918, ill. p. 37, as "Bouderie".
Paul Jamot. "Degas (1834–1917)." Gazette des beaux-arts, 4th ser., 14 (April–June 1918), pp. 130, 132, ill., calls it "Bouderie" and dates it about 1873; interprets the scene as a husband and wife in his business office; remarks that it is painted with the dignity of a portrait so that it rises above the anecdotal.
Paul Lafond. Degas. Vol. 2, Paris, 1919, p. 5, concludes from the picture on the wall that the man is a bookmaker or habitué of the track, but finds it impossible to determine the exact nature of the subject; mentions another picture ("un double") with the same subject found unfinished in Degas's studio at his death [presumably "Conversation"; about 1895; L864; Yale University Art Gallery].
Julius Meier-Graefe. Degas. Munich, 1920, p. 14, pl. 18 [English ed., 1923, p. 28, pl. XVIII], dates it 1872; supposes that it represents a husband angry with his wife; considers "Conversation" (Yale) to be a sketch for this picture.
Paul Jamot. Degas. Paris, 1924, pp. 71–73, 138–39, pl. 26, dates it about 1872–73; mentions "Conversation" (Yale) as a variant of this picture.
J. B. Manson. The Life and Work of Edgar Degas. London, 1927, p. 19, dates it 1872; calls it a reversion to "Family Portrait (The Bellelli Family)" (1858–67; L79; Musée d'Orsay, Paris).
Arsène Alexandre. "La collection Havemeyer, 2e Étude: Degas." La Renaissance 12 (October 1929), p. 485, ill., describes it as "the conjugal tragedy in all its sadness".
"Havemeyer Collection at Metropolitan Museum: Havemeyers Paid Small Sums for Masterpieces." Art News 28 (March 15, 1930), p. 43, ill. p. 45.
"Die Sammlung Havemeyer im Metropolitan-Museum." Pantheon 5 (May 1930), ill. p. 210, as "Die Schmollenden".
"The H. O. Havemeyer Collection." Parnassus 2 (March 1930), p. 7, as "Pouting".
H. O. Havemeyer Collection: Catalogue of Paintings, Prints, Sculpture and Objects of Art. n.p., 1931, pp. 110–11, ill., as "Bouderie"; dates it 1872–75.
Marcel Guérin. "Degas (1834–1917)." L'amour de l'art 12 (July 1931), p. 268, fig. 7, calls it "Bouderie. Scène d'intérieur," and erroneously as in the collection of Dr. Viau.
Louise Burroughs. "Degas in the Havemeyer Collection." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 27 (May 1932), pp. 143–44, ill., as "Pouting (La Bouderie)"; calls it "baffling" and "undoubtedly composed of actual portraits".
Bryson Burroughs. "Changes in the Picture Galleries." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 27 (January 1932), p. 19, as "Pouting".
Arsène Alexandre. "Degas: Nouveaux aperçus." L'art et les artistes, n.s., 29 (February 1935), ill. p. 151.
Camille Mauclair. Degas. London, [1937], p. 166, pl. 60, as "Pouting"; dates it about 1872–73.
Charles Sterling inChefs d'œuvre de l'art français. Exh. cat., Palais National des Arts. Paris, 1937, p. 149, no. 299, dates it about 1869.
Robert Burnand inChefs d'œuvre de l'art français. Paris, 1937, vol. 1, pp. 478–79, no. 185, ill., dates it about 1869 and prefers the title "Distraction".
Jacqueline Bouchot-Saupique and Marie Delaroche-Vernet. Degas. Exh. cat., Musée de l'Orangerie. Paris, [1937], pp. 21–22, no. 11.
Jacques Lassaigne. Edgar Degas. Paris, 1945, ill. p. 40, dates it 1875–76.
Camille Mauclair. Edgar Degas. New York, 1945, unpaginated, ill., dates it 1875–76.
P[aul]. A[ndré]. Lemoisne. Degas et son œuvre. [reprint 1984]. Paris, [1946–49], vol. 1, p. 83; vol. 2, pp. 174–75, no. 335, ill.; vol. 3, p. 500, under no. 864, dates it about 1873–75; tentatively identifies it as the picture called "Le Banquier" that was among the six works that Jean-Baptiste Faure bought back from Durand-Ruel on Degas's behalf in 1874; describes the woman's coiffure as a braid, concluding from this that she is still young and that the man is her father.
Degas's Portraits of his Family and Friends. Exh. cat., Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Minneapolis, 1948, unpaginated, dates it 1875–76; tentatively identifies the sitters as the Laroche or Lepic family.
Lillian Browse. Degas Dancers. New York, [1949], p. 27.
Daniel Catton Rich. Edgar-Hilaire-Germain Degas. New York, 1951, pp. 62–63, ill. (color), dates it 1873–75; calls it "a moment of domestic life," reminiscent in its realism of the seventeenth-century Dutch masters.
François Fosca. Degas. Geneva, 1954, p. 29.
Josephine L. Allen and Elizabeth E. Gardner. A Concise Catalogue of the European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1954, p. 28.
Theodore Rousseau Jr. "A Guide to the Picture Galleries." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 12, part 2 (January 1954), p. 7.
Pierre Cabanne. Edgar Degas. Paris, [1957], pp. 29, 97, 110, under no. 49 [English ed., 1958, pp. 29, 97, 111, under no. 49], calls it "Pouting (The Banker)" and dates it about 1874; states that the composition is "very faithfully" based on a photograph by Degas of the artist posing with Mme Arthur Fontaine and M. Paul Poujaud [ill. in Ref. Lemoisne 1946, vol. 1, opp. p. 218; the photograph is dated there about 1890].
Jean Sutherland Boggs. "Degas Notebooks at the Bibliothèque Nationale III: Group C (1863–1886)." Burlington Magazine 100 (July 1958), p. 244, records two studies for this painting in a notebook of 1871–72 (Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris), reproducing one of the studies.
Henri Peyre. Letter to Theodore Rousseau. September 7, 1962, does not believe this picture was inspired by a French literary subject.
Phoebe Pool. Degas. London, 1963, p. 41, colorpl. 27, dates it about 1874–76.
Ronald Pickvance. "The Drawings of Edgar Degas; Degas." Burlington Magazine 106 (June 1964), p. 295, rejects the idea that it was based on a photograph of Mme Fontaine and M. Poujaud [see Ref. Cabanne 1957].
Quentin Bell. Degas: Le Viol. Newcastle upon Tyne, 1965, pp. 10–11, remarks that the "element of hostility between the sexes is apparent" in the separation of the female and male figures in this picture, "Young Spartans" (about 1860–62; L70; National Gallery, London) and "Scene of War in the Middle Ages" (1863–65; L124; Musée d'Orsay, Paris).
Jean Bouret. Degas. New York, 1965, p. 81, ill. p. 92 (color), dates it about 1873.
Charles Sterling and Margaretta M. Salinger. French Paintings: A Catalogue of the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 3, XIX–XX Centuries. New York, 1967, pp. 71–73, ill., call it "Sulking (Bouderie)" and date it about 1873; state that the title "Bouderie" was not associated with the picture until Ref. Lecomte 1910 [but see Ref. Loyrette 1988].
Theodore Reff. "The Pictures within Degas's Pictures." Metropolitan Museum Journal 1 (1968), pp. 125, 127, 143–45, 147, 164–66, figs. 24, 26 (overall and detail), dates it about 1869–71, based on notebook studies from those years; calls it "Sulking" and "The Banker," linking it to the Banker picture that Faure bought back from Durand-Ruel [see Ref. Lemoisne 1946]; describes the scene as a small bank interior, perhaps that owned by Degas's father, and identifies the picture in the background as a color engraving, probably owned by Degas, after the painting, "Steeple Chase Cracks," by J. F. Herring; suggests that our picture was inspired by Rembrandt's "Syndics of the Drapers' Guild," which also depicts an interrupted business meeting; sees in it Degas's illustration of his friend Edmond Duranty's theory of expression which advocated the transformation of "the schematized and exaggerated physiognomies which were typical of the academic tradition into portrayals of the more complex emotions characteristic of modern spiritual life"; identifies the depicted couple as Duranty and Emma Dobigny, one of Degas's favorite models.
Ronald Pickvance. Degas's Racing World. Exh. cat., Wildenstein & Co., Inc. New York, 1968, unpaginated, no. 6, ill., dates it 1873–75; discusses the sporting print on the wall as evidence of the popularity of horseracing in France in the nineteenth century.
Milton Esterow. "Degas Shows Colors in New Display." New York Times (March 22, 1968), p. 57, ill., quotes E. J. Rousuck of Wildenstein as saying that he sold the original sporting picture by J. F. Herring, a copy of which appears in the background of this painting, to the Queen Mother of England in 1957.
Theodore Reff. "Some Unpublished Letters of Degas." Art Bulletin 50 (March 1968), p. 91 n. 49.
Aaron Scharf. Art and Photography. Baltimore, 1969, pp. 144–46, 301, fig. 127, dates the photograph of M. Poujaud and Mme Arthur Fontaine to 1894, calling it reminiscent of this painting.
Theodore Reff. "More Unpublished Letters of Degas." Art Bulletin 51 (September 1969), p. 287 n. 66.
Fiorella Minervino inL'opera completa di Degas. Milan, 1970, p. 104, no. 386, ill. p. 104 and colorpl. 20, dates it 1873–75.
Denys Sutton. Edgar Degas, 1834–1917. Exh. cat., Lefevre Fine Art Ltd. London, 1970, p. 13, fig. 6, dates it about 1874–76; notes that Degas may have studied modern English pictures at the 1855 Exposition Universelle or at the Salon, and that he must have studied English sporting prints based on the Herring print shown in this painting.
Ronald Pickvance. "Degas as a Photographer." Lithopinion 5 (Spring 1970), p. 74, ill., dates it 1869 and describes it as having "snapshot immediacy".
Theodore Reff. "Degas and the Literature of His Time–I." Burlington Magazine 112 (September 1970), pp. 583–84, fig. 10 (detail), dates it about 1869.
Anthea Callen. "Jean-Baptiste Faure, 1830–1914: A Study of a Patron and Collector of the Impressionists and their Contemporaries." Master's thesis, University of Leicester, 1971, p. 160, no. 193, dates it about 1873 and identifies it as one of the paintings returned by Faure to the artist in 1874.
Theodore Reff. "The Technical Aspects of Degas's Art." Metropolitan Museum Journal 4 (1971), p. 142, fig. 1 (detail).
Sharon Flescher inFrom Realism to Symbolism: Whistler and His World. Ed. Allen Staley. Exh. cat., Wildenstein & Co., Inc. New York, 1971, p. 71, no. 64, pl. 13, calls it "Sulking (Bouderie) (Le Banquier)"; compares it to seventeenth-century Dutch interiors and early works by Whistler.
Eugenia Parry Janis. "Degas and the "Master of Chiaroscuro"." Museum Studies 7 (1972), p. 71 n. 29, dates it 1873–75.
Theodore Reff. "Degas's 'Tableau de Genre'." Art Bulletin 54 (September 1972), pp. 326, 333–34, mentions this picture as an example of Degas's use of compositional means to express psychological tension between female and male figures.
Theodore Reff. Degas, The Artist's Mind. [New York], 1976, pp. 10, 90, 93, 116–20, 144–45, 162–64, 216, 228, 232, 272, 315 nn. 73, 74, 80, figs. 83 (color) and 85 (detail), [reprints Refs. Reff 1968, 1970, 1971,1972].
Theodore Reff. The Notebooks of Edgar Degas: A Catalogue of the Thirty-Eight Notebooks in the Bibliothèque Nationale and Other Collections. Oxford, 1976, vol. 1, pp. 20–21 n. 1, pp. 110–11 (notebook 22, p. 43), 122 (notebook 25, pp. 36–37, 39), 151, suggests a revised date of 1868–69 based on a study in the artist's Notebook 22, but elsewhere dates it 1869–71, based on studies in Notebook 25; illustrates the various studies [vol. 1, pl. 26, notebook 22, p. 43; vol. 2, notebook 25, pp. 36–37, 39].
Theodore Reff. "Degas: A Master among Masters." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 34 (Spring 1977), p. [23], fig. 39 (color), dates it 1869–71.
Norma Broude. "Degas's 'Misogyny'." Art Bulletin 59 (March 1977), pp. 95–96, fig. 1, dates it about 1871–73; argues against the interpretation of this picture as depicting hostility between the sexes.
Maurice Sérullaz inPhaidon Encyclopedia of Impressionism. Oxford, 1978, p. 87, as "Sulks"; dates it about 1874.
Eduard Hüttinger. Degas. New York, 1978, ill. p. 18 (color), dates it 1868.
Charles S. Moffett. Degas: Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1979, p. 10, colorpl. 14, dates it about 1869–71; suggests that his father's opposition to his becoming an artist may have prompted Degas to associate an angry, withdrawn man with his father's bank.
Ian Dunlop. Degas. New York, 1979, pp. 81, 83, 229 n. 67, colorpl. 63, calls it "Sulking (The banker)" and dates it 1875–76.
Denys Sutton. "Edgar Degas: Master of the Melodic Line." Apollo 110 (September 1979), p. 168, accepts Reff's [Ref. 1976, Notebooks] redating of this picture to 1868–69.
Gail Levin. Edward Hopper as Illustrator. New York, 1979, p. 20, fig. 12.
Ronald Pickvance. Degas 1879. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Scotland. Edinburgh, 1979, pp. 28–29, no. 38, ill., dates it 1869–71 and calls the title problematic.
Richard Thomson. "Degas in Edinburgh." Burlington Magazine 121 (October 1979), p. 674, states that the pose of a female figure bending forward seems to have begun in Degas's pictures about 1870, citing this painting, and then became something of a formula by the next decade.
Carol A. Nathanson and Edward J. Olszewski. "Degas's Angel of the Apocalypse." Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 67 (October 1980), p. 251.
Eugénie de Keyser. Degas: Réalité et métaphore. Louvain-la-Neuve, 1981, p. 55, describes it as an antagonistic scene between a young woman and older man, depicted with the individualism of portraiture.
Theodore Reff. "Degas and De Valernes in 1872." Arts Magazine 56 (September 1981), p. 126, dates it 1869–71, based on the studies in Notebook 25 [see Ref. Reff 1976, Notebooks]; suggests that it influenced the painting "Visite au Notaire" by Evariste de Valernes (1872; formerly Vincent-Boujarel collection, Carpentras).
Linda Nochlin. "Edward Hopper and the Imagery of Alienation." Art Journal 41 (Summer 1981), pp. 137–38, compares it to Hopper's painting "Office at Night" (1940; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis).
Keith Roberts. Degas. rev., enl. ed. [1st ed., 1976]. Oxford, 1982, fig. 5, dates it about 1875.
Roy McMullen. Degas: His Life, Times, and Work. Boston, 1984, pp. 161–63, 180, 270, 431, ill., discusses it in relation to "The Bellelli Family" (L79; Orsay), "Scene of War in the Middle Ages" (L124; Orsay), "Young Spartans" (L70; National Gallery, London) and "Interior" (L348; Philadelphia Museum of Art); comments that these paintings as a group "unquestionably implies some sort of sexual anxiety".
Suzanne Folds McCullagh inDegas in The Art Institute of Chicago. Exh. cat., Art Institute of Chicago. Chicago, 1984, p. 13.
Denys Sutton. "Degas: Master of the Horse." Apollo 119 (April 1984), p. 286.
Weston J. Naef inThe Metropolitan Museum of Art: Notable Acquisitions, 1983–1984. New York, 1984, p. 80.
Gail Levin. "The Office Image in the Visual Arts." Arts Magazine 59 (September 1984), pp. 98–99, fig. 1, calls it one of the first important depictions of the modern office; suggests Degas may have been influenced by Quentin Metsys's "The Banker and his Wife" (1514; Musée du Louvre, Paris).
Charles S. Moffett. Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1985, pp. 64–65, 250, ill. (color, overall and detail), dates it 1869–71; calls the title "apocryphal" and asserts that it was probably originally known as "The Banker".
Bradley Collins. "Manet's 'In the Conservatory' and 'Chez le Pere Lathuille'." Art Journal 44 (Spring 1985), p. 61, fig. 4, compares it to Manet's "In the Conservatory" (1878/79; Nationalgalerie, Berlin).
Theodore Reff. The Notebooks of Edgar Degas: A Catalogue of the Thirty-Eight Notebooks in the Bibliothèque Nationale and Other Collections. 2nd. rev. ed. New York, 1985, vol. 1, pp. 20–21 n. 1, pp. 110–11 (notebook 22, p. 43), 122 (notebook 25, pp. 36–37, 39), 151, revises the date to 1869–71 [see Ref. Reff. 1976, Notebooks].
Frances Weitzenhoffer. The Havemeyers: Impressionism Comes to America. New York, 1986, p. 255.
Gary Tinterow et al. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 8, Modern Europe. New York, 1987, pp. 26–27, colorpl. 12, call it "Sulking (The Banker)".
Horst Keller. Edgar Degas. Munich, 1988, pp. 65, 174, fig. 40.
Henri Loyrette inDegas. Exh. cat., Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Paris. New York, 1988, pp. 46, 69, 146–48, 534, 563, no. 85, ill. (color), dates it about 1869–71; asserts that the title "Bouderie" dates back to 1895, when Degas stored the painting with Durand-Ruel, and is probably the artist's title; rejects identification of this work with "The Banker" bought by Faure in 1874; states that Degas used Dobigny and Duranty in this picture as models for an ambiguous genre scene, probably of a pair of lovers; argues that the sketch of a woman's head from Notebook 22 is not a study for this painting [see Ref. Reff 1976, Notebooks].
Richard Thomson. "The Degas Exhibition at the Grand Palais." Burlington Magazine 130 (April 1988), p. 297.
Robert Gordon and Andrew Forge. Degas. New York, 1988, pp. 74, 119, 274, ill. p. 112, identify the man and woman as Duranty and Ellen Andrée.
Robert L. Herbert. Impressionism: Art, Leisure, and Parisian Society. New Haven, 1988, pp. 56, 155, 162, 308 nn. 25, 55, colorpl. 58, dates it about 1873; mentions the financial troubles of the Degas family's banking business and notes that this picture's "force as an expression of the instability and tension of modern life must owe something to the family business".
Denys Sutton. "Degas et l'Angleterre." Degas inédit: Actes du Colloque Degas. Paris, 1989, p. 277.
Eugenia Parry Janis. "Degas. The Nudes." Burlington Magazine 132 (April 1990), p. 280.
Henri Loyrette. Degas. Paris, 1991, p. 612.
Patrick Bade. Degas. London, 1991, pp. 11, 14, 19, 37, 70–71, 143, ill. (color), dates it about 1869–71; suggests that Degas was emulating Victorian genre paintings.
John House. "Degas' 'Tableaux de Genre'." Dealing with Degas: Representations of Women and the Politics of Vision. Ed. Richard Kendall and Griselda Pollock. London, 1992, pp. 81, 83–84, 87, 89–90, 92 n. 5, p. 93 n. 22, fig. 16, dates it about 1872; discusses this picture and "Interior" (L 348; Philadelphia Museum of Art) as exceptions to Degas's tendency to present men as individuals and women as types; comments upon the enigmatic relationship between the two figures, the individualism of the woman's features, and her direct stare as components that challenged conventional interpretations.
Linda Nochlin. "A House is not a Home: Degas and the Subversion of the Family." Dealing with Degas: Representations of Women and the Politics of Vision. Ed. Richard Kendall and Griselda Pollock. London, 1992, p. 46, discusses it as one of a number of Degas images "in which a yawning space between the gendered opponents and/or fragments or centrifugal composition constructs a disturbing sense of psychological distance or underlying hostility between the figures in question".
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, p. 220.
Gary Tinterow inSplendid Legacy: The Havemeyer Collection. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1993, pp. 42, 47, colorpl. 45, dates it about 1869–71.
Rebecca A. Rabinow inSplendid Legacy: The Havemeyer Collection. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1993, p. 95, fig. 13 (installation photograph of Exh. New York 1915).
Chuji Ikegami. New History of World Art. Vol. 22, Period of Impressionism. Tokyo, 1993, p. 378, ill. p. 378 and colorpl. 47, dates it 1869–71.
Gretchen Wold inSplendid Legacy: The Havemeyer Collection. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1993, p. 325, no. A201, ill. p. 326.
Henri Loyrette. Degas: The Man and His Art. New York, 1993, pp. 52–53, ill.
Susan Sidlauskas. "Resisting Narrative: The Problem of Edgar Degas's Interior." Art Bulletin 75 (December 1993), p. 694 n. 96.
Henri Loyrette inOrigins of Impressionism. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1994, pp. 278, 297, 376–78, no. 67, ill. p. 378 and fig. 342 (color) [French ed., Paris, pp. 277, 297, 376–77, ill. p. 376 and fig. 342 (color)], dates it about 1869–70, when Emma Dobigny modeled for Degas; tentatively identifies the male figure as Duranty; remarks that the copy of Herring's "Steeple-Chase Tracks [sic for Cracks]" in the background "emphasizes the close bond between this canvas and British painting, which Degas knew well and appreciated".
Jean Sutherland Boggs inDegas Portraits. Exh. cat., Kunsthaus Zürich. London, 1994, p. 90 [German ed., "Degas Die Portraits"], tentatively dates it 1869, based on a portrait of Emma Dobigny from that year.
Antoine Terrasse inDegas Portraits. Exh. cat., Kunsthaus Zürich. London, 1994, pp. 302, 309, mentions it among pictures which express antagonism between men and women; compares its composition to two later Degas photographs.
Marilyn R. Brown. Degas and the Business of Art: A Cotton Office in New Orleans. University Park, Pa., 1994, p. 122, fig. 35, calls it "Sulking (The Banker)" and dates it about 1873–74; asserts that it "is recognized as an expression of modern psychological tensions owing something to the experiences of the Degas family business" and remarks upon its "implied comment on human (and probably sexual) relationships as they are socially affected by money"; observes that the framed print "comments self-referentially upon its own place within the commercial world".
Rodolphe Rapetti inGustave Caillebotte: Urban Impressionist. Exh. cat., Art Institute of Chicago. Chicago, 1995, p. 158, under no. 63, fig. 2 [French ed., "Gustave Caillebotte, 1848–1894," Paris, 1994, p. 194, fig. 2], compares its composition to Caillebotte's "Interior" (1880; private collection).
George Shackelford. "Degas's Portraits." Apollo 142 (August 1995), p. 80, calls it "a genre picture . . . for which friends were asked to pose".
Anthea Callen. The Spectacular Body: Science, Method and Meaning in the Work of Degas. New Haven, 1995, p. 175, pl. 112, calls it "Sulking (The Banker)" and dates it about 1873; interprets the male figure as dominant and the female as an anomalous, transient visitor within the male environment; sees importance in the choice of Duranty as the model because he was an influential public figure.
Norma Broude. "Dealing with Degas: Representations of Women and the Politics of Vision." Woman's Art Journal 16 (Autumn 1995–Winter 1996), p. 36.
Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 451, ill.
Gary Tinterow inCorot. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1996, p. 376, fig. 163, compares it to Corot's "Lady in Blue" (1874; Musée du Louvre, Paris) because of the modernity of the female model, who may also be Emma Dobigny.
Richard Kendall. Degas, Beyond Impressionism. Exh. cat., National Gallery. London, 1996, p. 45.
Stephen Kern. "The Spectacular Body: Science, Method and Meaning in the Work of Degas." American Historical Review 101 (December 1996), p. 1522, refutes Callen's [Ref. 1995] interpretation of this picture.
Linda Nochlin in Colin B. Bailey. Renoir's Portraits: Impressions of an Age. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. New Haven, 1997, p. 55, comments on the difficulty of distinguishing between genre scenes and recognizable portraiture in Degas's oeuvre, citing this work.
Ann Dumas inThe Private Collection of Edgar Degas. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1997, p. 60, suggests that this picture was influenced by Paul Gavarni's lithographs, owned by Degas, which imply unresolved narrative subtexts between two figures, citing as an example "Man and Woman Talking," from The "Lorettes" (1842; British Museum, London).
Gary Tinterow inLa collection Havemeyer: Quand l'Amérique découvrait l'impressionnisme. Exh. cat., Musée d'Orsay. Paris, 1997, pp. 71, 108, fig. 29.
Jean Sutherland Boggs. Degas at the Races. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1998, pp. 58–61 nn. 41, 43, p. 246, no. 25, ill. (color), dates it about 1869; remarks on the attitudes of the two figures, calling her "perhaps only defensive" and him "decidedly furtive"; suggests that the dangers of the racetrack have been transferred to the more sedentary setting of an office.
Malcolm Daniel. Edgar Degas, Photographer. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1998, pp. 7, 38, fig. 19, remarks that the positions of the figures in this picture, which was in Degas's studio at the time, may have served as a model for the poses in his photograph of Paul Poujaud, Marie Fontaine, and himself (MMA 1983.1092).
Eugenia Parry in Malcolm Daniel. Edgar Degas, Photographer. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1998, pp. 54–55, cites this painting as an example of how Degas used gesture "with an uncanny sense of placement, so that his actors, whether staring, waiting, bending, turning toward or away, seem to speak in paragraphs," yet the narrative remains elusive.
Jean Sutherland Boggs. "Degas's Photographs. New York, Los Angeles and Paris." Burlington Magazine 141 (January 1999), p. 59.
Barbara E. Savedoff. "Frames." Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 57 (Summer 1999), p. 351.
Rebecca A. Rabinow inDegas and America: The Early Collectors. Exh. cat., High Museum of Art. Atlanta, 2000, p. 38, ill. p. 35 (color detail), fig. 5 (color).
Jill Berk Jiminez inDictionary of Artists' Models. Ed. Jill Berk Jiminez and Joanna Banham. London, 2001, p. 163, associates this painting's female model with Emma Dobigny.
Anne Hollander. Fabric of Vision: Dress and Drapery in Painting. Exh. cat., National Gallery. London, 2002, pp. 146–47, 168, fig. 108 (color), calls it "Sulking (The Banker)" and dates it about 1870; describes Degas's use of the woman's dress with its heavy bustle to "suggest the weight of the woman's complex state of mind and contribute to the ambiguous atmosphere, which is the chief sign of this pair's low-keyed dissatisfaction and disharmony"; comments on the Dutch-like ambiguity of the scene.
Aruna D'Souza inEdgar Degas: Defining the Modernist Edge. Ed. Jennifer R. Gross. Exh. cat., Yale University Art Gallery. New Haven, 2003, pp. 38, 40–41, fig. 13 (color), discusses the transformation of this composition, which "seems to thematize alienation, or even discord, between the sexes," into a portrait of a happily married couple in "Conversation" (Yale).
Gioia Mori inDegas: Classico e moderno. Ed. Maria Teresa Benedetti. Exh. cat., Complesso del Vittoriano, Rome. Milan, 2004, p. 92, fig. 55.
Susan Sidlauskas. "Emotion, Color, Cézanne (The Portraits of Hortense)." Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide 3 (Autumn 2004) [http://www.19thc-artworldwide.org/67-autumn04/autumn04article/299-emotion-color-cezanne-the-portraits-of-hortense].
Charles Harrison. Painting the Difference: Sex and Spectator in Modern Art. Chicago, 2005, pp. 123, 270 nn. 30, 31, fig. 94, calls it "The Banker" in the text and "Bouderie (Sulking)" in the caption; dates it about 1872; describes it as "one of the only two occasions known to me on which a male artist has convincingly represented the oppressiveness of the male sulk and its typical consequences for the woman against whom it is directed".
Gary Tinterow inThe Masterpieces of French Painting from The Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1800–1920. Exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. New York, 2007, pp. 93, 208–9, no. 64, ill. (color and black and white).
Janet McLean inImpressionist Interiors. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Ireland. Dublin, 2008, pp. 13, 76–77, no. 12, ill. (color), suggests that the success of George Moore's 1894 novel "Esther Waters," in which the heroine is seduced by a bookmaker, may have prompted Degas to consign this picture to Durand-Ruel in 1895.
Suzanne Singletary inImpressionist Interiors. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Ireland. Dublin, 2008, pp. 42–43, ill. p. 30 (color detail).
Karin Sagner. Gustave Caillebotte: Neue Perspektiven des Impressionismus. Munich, 2009, pp. 101, 104, fig. 56 (color).
Susan Sidlauskas. Cézanne's Other: The Portraits of Hortense. Berkeley, 2009, p. 236 n. 28, notes that the supposed representation of Duranty scowling exemplifies one of the characteristic physiognomies about which Duranty wrote as being telltale.
Gary Tinterow inImpressionism, Fashion, & Modernity. Ed. Gloria Groom. Exh. cat., Musée d'Orsay, Paris. Chicago, 2012, p. 23, ill. p. 24 (color) [French ed., "L'Impressionnisme et la Mode," Paris, p. 32, ill. p. 37 (color)].
Gloria Groom inImpressionism, Fashion, & Modernity. Ed. Gloria Groom. Exh. cat., Musée d'Orsay, Paris. Chicago, 2012, p. 37 [French ed., "L'Impressionnisme et la Mode," Paris, p. 78], notes that her blue dress may represent a transitional garment that transformed into evening wear with the removal of the sleeved bodice.
Impressionism, Fashion, & Modernity. Ed. Gloria Groom. Exh. cat., Musée d'Orsay, Paris. Chicago, 2012, p. 286, no. 5, ill. (color) [French ed., "L'Impressionnisme et la Mode," Paris, p. 298, no. 20].
MaryAnne Stevens inManet: Portraying Life. Exh. cat., Toledo Museum of Art. London, 2012, p. 32, fig. 15 (color), notes that it evokes a similar psychological state to Manet's contemporaneous "The Repose (Portrait of Berthe Morisot)" (1870, Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence).
Amanda T. Zehnder in Kimberly A. Jones. Degas/Cassatt. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art. Washington, 2014, fig. 19 [installation photograph of New York 1915 exhibition].
Erica E. Hirshler and Elliot Bostwick Davis in Kimberly A. Jones. Degas/Cassatt. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art. Washington, 2014, p. 132.
Alexander Eiling inDegas: Klassik und Experiment. Ed. Alexander Eiling. Exh. cat., Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe. Munich, 2014, pp. 139–41, no. 39, ill. (color), dates it around 1869/70.
Roberta Crisci-Richardson. Mapping Degas: Real Spaces, Symbolic Spaces and Invented Spaces in the Life and Work of Edgar Degas (1834–1917). Newcastle upon Tyne, 2015, pp. 196–97, 217 n. 42, states that the title derives from the man's grimace.
Henri Loyrette. Degas: A New Vision. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Victoria. Melbourne, 2016, pp. 26, 56, 94, 273, ill. pp. 98, 254–55 (color, overall and detail), states that the picture evokes "a couple's fleeting ill-humour" and discusses it among Degas's genre scenes.
Richard Kendall in Jane Munro. Degas: A Passion for Perfection. Exh. cat., Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. New Haven, 2017, pp. 32–33.
Jane Munro. Degas: A Passion for Perfection. Exh. cat., Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. New Haven, 2017, pp. 149, 151–52, 156–57, fig. 160 (color), states that it was originally called "The Banker," though there is no scholarly consensus for this; compares it to the later "The Conversation" (1885–95, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven); notes its possible role in Degas's affinity for Gauguin's "The Brooding Woman (Te Faaturuma)" (1891, Worcester Art Museum).
Ruth E. Iskin inMonographic Exhibitions and the History of Art. Ed. Maia Wellington Gahtan and Donatella Pegazzano. New York, 2018, p. 34.
Henri Loyrette inDegas à l'Opéra. Ed. Henri Loyrette. Exh. cat., Musée d'Orsay. Paris, 2019, p. 86 [English ed., London, 2020], compares the tension between the figures to that in the artist's "Portrait of Raoul Madier de Montjau and his Wife the Opera SInger Emilie Fursch-Madier" (ca. 1871, Detroit Institute of Arts).
Theodore Reff, ed. The Letters of Edgar Degas.. By Edgar Degas. New York, 2020, vol. 1, p. 143 n. 2, p. 154 n. 18; vol. 2, p. 450 n. 2 (under letter no. 1150); vol. 3, p. 331, dates Degas's use of Duranty as a model for the picture to about 1869; posits that Durand-Ruel purchased The Met's picture from the dealer Frédéric Reitlinger in March 1872 and that it is possible that Degas sold it to Reitlinger, along with "The False Start" (ca. 1869–72, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven), the year before.
Stephan Wolohojian and Ashley E. Dunn. Manet/Degas. Exh. cat., Musée d'Orsay, Paris. New York, 2023, p. 293, ill. pp. 182–83 (color detail), colorpl. 90.
Isolde Pludermacher inManet/Degas. Ed. Laurence des Cars, Stéphane Guégan, and Isolde Pludermacher. Exh. cat., Musée d'Orsay. Paris, 2023, p. 154.
Manet/Degas. Ed. Laurence des Cars, Stéphane Guégan, and Isolde Pludermacher. Exh. cat., Musée d'Orsay. Paris, 2023, p. 256, colorpl. 116.
Stéphane Guégan inManet/Degas. Ed. Laurence des Cars, Stéphane Guégan, and Isolde Pludermacher. Exh. cat., Musée d'Orsay. Paris, 2023, p. 132.
There are studies for this painting in two of Degas's notebooks (notebook 22, p. 43; notebook 25, pp. 36–37, 39; Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris; see Reff 1985).
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