Author of The New Painting (1876), Edmond Duranty was a novelist, art critic, and frequent presence at the cafés popular with artists, including his friends Manet and Degas. This drawing, which captures its subject in thought, was preparatory to a finished portrait in pastel. In 1870, after Duranty slighted Manet in print, the artist slapped him at the Café Guerbois. Duranty’s refused demand for an apology led to a duel three days later, during which he received a wound in his upper chest. Surprisingly, the two men remained friends after the incident.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Edmond Duranty
Artist:Edgar Degas (French, Paris 1834–1917 Paris)
Sitter:Edmond Duranty
Date:1879
Medium:Conté crayon, heightened with white chalk, on blue laid paper
Dimensions:12 1/8 x 18 9/16 in. (30.8 x 47.2cm)
Classification:Drawings
Credit Line:Rogers Fund, 1918
Object Number:19.51.9a
Inscription: Numbered in red, lower right: 19.51.9A [MMA accession number]
Marking: Stamped in red ink, lower left: [the mark of the Degas estate sale (Lugt 658)] Verso, stamped in red ink, upper right: [the mark of the Degas atelier (Lugt 657)] Watermark: PL BAS
Atelier Degas(Vente II, 1918, no.242.2 to MMA for Fr. 8,000)Lugt 657 and 658
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Recent Accessions," 1919.
Legion of Honor, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. "Nineteenth century French drawings, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, 1947," March 8, 1947–April 6, 1947.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Fifty Centuries," November 14, 1970–June 1, 1971.
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.
Paris. Galeries nationales du Grand Palais. "Degas," February 9–May 16, 1988.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Degas," September 27, 1988–January 8, 1989.
Kunsthaus Zürich. "Degas: Die Portraits," December 2, 1994–March 5, 1995.
Kunsthalle Tübingen. "Degas: Die Portraits," March 18, 1995–June 18, 1995.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Private Collection of Edgar Degas," October 1, 1997–January 11, 1998.
Atlanta. High Museum of Art. "Degas and America: The Early Collectors," March 3–May 27, 2001.
Milwaukee Art Museum. "Impressionism: Pastels, Watercolors, Drawings," October 14, 2011–January 8, 2012.
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.
Paris-Ottawa-NY 1988, no. 198; See Lemoisne 517
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.
Henri Rivière Les Dessins de Degas, reproduits en fac-simile. Première Série 1-50. vols. 1 and 2, Editions Demotte 1922-23; reprint 1973. Paris, 1922-23, no.42, pl.42 (reprint edition 1973, pl.75).
James Bolivar Manson The Life and Work of Edgar Degas. London, 1927.
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, also N.S., no. 43.
Paul-André Lemoisne Degas et son oeuvre. 4 vols + Suppl, Paris, 1946-1949.
John Rewald The History of Impressionism. Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York, 1946, First edition, 1946, p.342, repr.; third revised edition, 1961; fourth revised edition, 1973, p.441, repr.
Nineteenth century French drawings. San Francisco, 1947.
Daniel Catton Rich Edgar Hilaire Germain Degas. New York, 1951.
Art Treasures of the Metropolitan: A Selection from the European and Asiatic Collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York, 1952.
"MMA Bulletin" French Drawings. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, vol. 17, no. 6, New York, February 1959.
Jean Sutherland Boggs Portraits by Degas. Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1962.
Jacob Bean 100 European Drawings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: New York Graphic Society, 1964.
Theodore Reff "The Pictures within Degas's Pictures." in The Metropolitan Museum Journal. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, vol. 1, New York, 1968.
Sir Kenneth Clark Masterpieces of Fifty Centuries. Exh. cat., November 14, 1970 - February 14, 1971. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, E. P. Dutton and Company, New York, 1970.
Jacques Fryszman "French Drawings from the Metropolitan Museum at the Louvre." The Burlington Magazine. 115, no. 849, December 1973.
Theodore Reff Degas: The Artist's Mind Ex. cat. New York, 1976.
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.
Theodore Reff "Degas: A Master among Masters." in The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, vol. 35, no. 4, Spring 1977,. New York, 1977.
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.
Jean Sutherland Boggs, Douglas Druick, Henri Loyrette, Michael Pantazzi, Gary Tinterow Degas. Ex. cat.: Paris, Ottawa, MMA, 1988-1989. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Réunion des Musées Nationaux, National Museums of Canada, New York and Ottawa, 1988-89.
Felix Baumann, Marianne Karabelnik, Jean Sutherland Boggs Degas Portraits. Ex. cat. Kunsthaus Zürich, London, December 2, 1994- - June 18, 1995.
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.
Degas and America: The Early Collectors. Exh. cat., High Museum of Art, Atlanta, March 3-May 27, 2001, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, June 16-September 9, 2001. Ann Dumas, David A. Brenneman, New York, 2000.
Marjorie B. Cohn, Jean Sutherland Boggs Degas at Harvard. Exh. cat. Cambridge, MA, 2005.
Christopher Lloyd Impressionism: Pastels, Watercolors, Drawings. Exh. cat., Milwaukee Art Museum, Oct. 14, 2011-Jan. 8, 2012 and at the Albertina Vienna, Feb. 10-May 13. Milwaukee Art Museum, American edition. Milwaukee, 2012.
Christopher Lloyd, Christine Ekelhart Impressionism: Pastels, Watercolors, Drawings. Exh. cat., Milwaukee Art Museum, Oct. 14, 2011-Jan. 8, 2012 and at the Albertina Vienna, Feb. 10-May 13, 2012. Austrian edition. Vienna and Cologne, 2012.
Henri Loyrette, National Gallery of Victoria Degas: A New Vision. National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 2016.
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