After Anglophiles introduced horse racing into France and a large track with viewing stands opened in the Bois de Boulogne in 1857, thousands of Parisians enjoyed the sport. Both Degas and Manet painted the resulting spectacle. Perhaps planning a painting, Degas sketched Manet in the midst of the crowd.
Artwork Details
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Title:Édouard Manet at the Races
Artist:Edgar Degas (French, Paris 1834–1917 Paris)
Sitter:Edouard Manet (French, Paris 1832–1883 Paris)
Date:ca. 1868–69
Medium:Graphite and black chalk
Dimensions:Sheet: 12 5/8 x 9 11/16 in. (32.1 x 24.6cm)
Classification:Drawings
Credit Line:Rogers Fund, 1918
Object Number:19.51.8
Inscription: Lower right in red: 19.51.8 Verso, numbered in blue pencil, at center: Ph 775 [number of Durand-Ruel photographic negative taken at time of atelier inventory]
Marking: Recto, stamped in red ink, lower left: [mark of the Degas estate sale (Lugt 658)]; stamped in ochre ink, lower center: [mark of MMA] Verso, stamped in red ink, lower right: [mark of the Degas atelier (Lugt 657)]
Atelier Degas Lugt 657 and 658; Galerie Georges Petit, Paris 2eme vente Degas, Paris, Dec. 11-13, 1918, no. 210, repr.
Minneapolis Institute of Arts. "Degas' Portraits of his Family and Friends, 1948," March 6, 1948–March 28, 1948.
Rotterdam. Museum Boymans. "Van Clouet tot Matisse, Tentoonstelling van franse tekeningen uit amerikaanse collecties," July 31–September 28, 1958.
Paris. Musée de l'Orangerie. "De Clouet à Matisse, dessins français des collections américaines," October–November 1958.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "French Drawings from American Collections: Clouet to Matisse," February 3–March 15, 1959.
Saint Louis Art Museum. "Drawings by Degas," January 20, 1967–February 26, 1967.
Philadelphia Museum of Art. "Drawings by Degas," March 10, 1967–April 30, 1967.
The Minneapolis Society of Fine Arts. "Drawings by Degas," May 18, 1967–June 25, 1967.
Wildenstein & Co., Inc. "Degas' Racing World," March 21, 1968–April 27, 1968.
Paris. Cabinet des dessins, Musée du Louvre. "Dessins français du Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York de David à Picasso," October 25, 1973–January 7, 1974.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Degas in the Metropolitan," February 26–September 4, 1977.
National Gallery of Scotland. "Degas 1879," August 13, 1979–September 30, 1979.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Nineteenth Century French Drawings and Prints," June 23–August 23, 1981.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Private Collection of Edgar Degas," October 1, 1997–January 11, 1998.
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. "Degas at the Races," April 12, 1998–July 12, 1998.
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. "Degas: A New Vision," October 16, 2016–January 16, 2017.
Paris. Musée d'Orsay. "Manet / Degas," March 28–July 23, 2023.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Manet / Degas," September 24, 2023–January 7, 2024.
Vente II. 210 Paris 1973. no.30
Bryson Burroughs "Drawings by Degas." in The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, vol. 14, no. 5, New York, May 1919.
Agnes Mongan "Portrait Studies by Degas in American Collections." Bulletin of the Fogg Art Museum. Cambridge, MA, 1932.
Walter Mehring European Drawings from the Collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art: A Portfolio of Collotype Reproductions [Vol. 1: Italian Drawings; Vol. 2: Flemish, Dutch, German, Spanish, French, and British drawings; Vol. 3: "New Series": Italian, Flemish, Dutch, German, Spanish, French, and British drawings]. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 3 vols., New York, 1942–44.
"Exhibition of Portraits by Degas." in Minneapolist Institute of Arts Bulletin. Minneapolis Institute of Arts, vol. 37, March 6, 1948.
Regina Shoolman, Charles E. Slatkin Six Centuries of French Master Drawings in America. Oxford University Press, New York, 1950.
French Drawings from American Collections: Clouet to Matisse A Special Loan Exhibition, February 3–March 15, 1959. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1959.
Jean Sutherland Boggs Portraits by Degas. Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1962.
Stephen Longstreet The Drawings of Degas. Los Angeles, 1964.
Jean Sutherland Boggs Drawings by Degas. Exh. cat., City Art Museum of Saint Louis, Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Minneapolis Society of the Arts. 1967, Joan Harris, Art Bulletin, March 1966, pp. 78-82.
Degas' Racing World. Exh. cat., April 27. Wildenstein & Co., Inc., New York, 1968.
Jacques Fryszman "French Drawings from the Metropolitan Museum at the Louvre." The Burlington Magazine. 115, no. 849, December 1973.
Jacob Bean, Linda Boyer Gillies, Cynthia Lambros, Roseline Bacou, Réunion des Musées Nationaux Dessins français du Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: de David à Picasso 54th Exposition de Cabinet des Dessins Musée du Louvre, 25 octobre 1973–7 janvier 1974. Paris, 1973.
John Rewald The History of Impressionism. 4th. New York, 1973.
Charles S. Moffett Degas in the Metropolitan. Ex. cat., February 26-September 4, 1977: a complete checklist of works by Degas in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1977.
Ian Dunlop Degas. New York, etc., 1979.
Ronald Pickvance Degas 1879: Paintings, pastels, drawings, prints and sculpture from around 100 years ago in the context of his earlier and later works Exh. cat., The National Galleries of Scotland. Edinburgh, 1979.
Françoise Cachin, Charles S. Moffett, Michel Melot Manet 1832-1883. Exh. cat., Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris and Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. New York, 1983.
Barbara Ehrlich White Impressionists Side by Side: Their Friendships, Rivalries, and Artistic Exchanges. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1996.
Ann Dumas, Colta Ives, Susan Alyson Stein, Gary Tinterow The Private Collection of Edgar Degas. Ex. cat. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1997.
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., Jean Sutherland Boggs, Daphne Barbour, Shelley Sturman, Kimberly Jones Degas at the Races. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., April 12-July 12, 1998. New Haven, CT, 1998, ill. p. 98.
Perrin Stein, Martin Royalton-Kisch French Drawings from the British Museum, Clouet to Seurat. London, 2005.
Louis-Antoine Prat Le Dessin français au XIXe siècle. Somogy Editions d'Art, Paris, 2011.
Henri Loyrette, National Gallery of Victoria Degas: A New Vision. National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 2016.
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