Edgar Degas greatly admired the female figure. Whereas his depictions of ballerinas focus on the elegant, performative body, his studies of women bathing show an equal appreciation for the uninhibited gestures of this private activity. In intimate, close-up portrayals, Degas depicted his models seated, crouched, or standing, often in contorted poses as they lifted arms and legs to wash or dry themselves. Chalk and pastels helped him capture the play of light and movement in these domestic choreographies. In this relatively abstract portrayal, he used white chalk to offset the color of the paper and to suggest the curvature of the woman’s back and arms.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Bather Drying Herself
Artist:Edgar Degas (French, Paris 1834–1917 Paris)
Date:ca. 1892
Medium:Charcoal and pastel, heightened with white chalk, on tracing paper (mounted on cardboard)
Dimensions:Sheet: 10 3/8 x 10 3/8 in. (26.4 x 26.4cm)
Classification:Drawings
Credit Line:Bequest of Stephen C. Clark, 1960
Accession Number:61.101.18
Signature: in graphite, lower right: Degas
Albert S. Henraux (French, born Italy); Stephen C. Clark
Galerie Georges Petit, Paris. "Exposition Degas, Galerie Georges Petit, 1924," April 12, 1924–May 2, 1924.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Degas in the Metropolitan," February 26–September 4, 1977.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Degas," September 27, 1988–January 8, 1989.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Drawings and Prints: Selections from the Permanent Collection," February 6–April 16, 1995.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Impressionist and Early Modern Paintings: The Clark Brothers Collect," May 22–August 19, 2007, no. 80.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Selections from the Department of Drawings and Prints: Hidden and Displayed," November 1, 2018–January 27, 2019.
MMA 1988. 297 Lemoisne 856
Henri Hertz Degas. Paris, 1920, fig. no. pl. 22, ill.
Paul-André Lemoisne Degas et son oeuvre. 4 vols + Suppl, Paris, 1946-1949, cat. no. 856, vol. 3,pp. 496-497, ill.
Stephen C. Clark Art Collection and House. New York, 1961, cat. no. 49.
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, cat. no. 44.
Sue Welsh Reed, Barbara Stern Shapiro Edgar Degas: The Painter as Printmaker. Exh. cat., Boston, Philadelphia, and London. Boston, 1984, fig. no. 43, lxvi, ill.
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, cat. no. 297, pp. 501-502, ill.
Michael Conforti, James Ganz, Neil Harris, Sarah Lees, Gilbert T. Vincent The Clark Brothers Collect: Impressionist and Early Modern Painting. Exh. cat. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Williamstown, MA, 2006, cat. no. 80, fig. no. 270, pp. 315, 323, ill.
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The Met's collection of drawings and prints—one of the most comprehensive and distinguished of its kind in the world—began with a gift of 670 works from Cornelius Vanderbilt, a Museum trustee, in 1880.
