This is a study for the second figure from the left in Degas’s pastel of the 1890s Ballet Dancers in the Wings (Saint Louis Art Museum). In the background is a brightly colored stage flat.
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Title:Dancer with a Fan
Artist:Edgar Degas (French, Paris 1834–1917 Paris)
Date:ca. 1890–95
Medium:Pastel and charcoal on buff-colored wove tracing paper
Dimensions:21 7/8 x 19 1/4 in. (55.6 x 48.9 cm)
Classification:Drawings
Credit Line:H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929
Accession Number:29.100.557
Inscription: Signed (lower right): Degas
[Ambroise Vollard, Paris, until 1906; probably 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, p. 185)
New York. Grolier Club. "Prints, Drawings and Bronzes by Degas," January 26–February 28, 1922, no. 61 (as "Danseuse espagnole à l'éventail").
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The H. O. Havemeyer Collection," March 10–November 2, 1930, no. 153 (as "Dancer with Fan") [2nd ed., 1958, no. 120].
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Degas in the Metropolitan," February 26–September 4, 1977, no. 49 (of works on paper).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Splendid Legacy: The Havemeyer Collection," March 27–June 20, 1993, no. A254.
London. National Gallery. "Degas, Beyond Impressionism," May 22–August 26, 1996, no. 24.
Art Institute of Chicago. "Degas, Beyond Impressionism," September 28, 1996–January 5, 1997, no. 24.
Paris. Musée d'Orsay. "La collection Havemeyer: Quand l'Amérique découvrait l'impressionnisme...," October 20, 1997–January 18, 1998, no. 2.
LOAN OF THIS WORK IS RESTRICTED.
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 "Russian Dancer" (MMA 29.100.556).
[Ambroise Vollard]. Degas: Quatre-vingt-dix-huit reproductions signées par Degas. Paris, 1914, pl. XIII.
H. O. Havemeyer Collection: Catalogue of Paintings, Prints, Sculpture and Objects of Art. n.p., 1931, p. 185.
P[aul]. A[ndré]. Lemoisne. Degas et son œuvre. [reprint 1984]. Paris, [1946–49], vol. 3, pp. 618–19, no. 1068, ill., dates it about 1890–95 and calls it a study for "Dancers in the Wings" of the same date (Saint Louis Art Museum; L1066).
Lillian Browse. Degas Dancers. New York, [1949], pp. 59, 403–4, 414, pl. 208, calls it "Danseuse à l'eventail, dans les coulisses" and dates it about 1900–1905; lists it as a study for pastels in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Saint Louis Art Museum, and Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford (L944, L1066, L1321).
Fiorella Minervino inL'opera completa di Degas. Milan, 1970, p. 134, no. 1064, ill.
Geneviève Monnier. Pastels du XIXe siècle: Musée du Louvre, Cabinet des dessins; Musée d'Orsay. Paris, 1985, p. 69, under no. 60, confuses it with another drawing of a dancer with a fan in the Museum's collection (29.100.188).
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 29.100.556; see Wold 1993].
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, identifies it as probably 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. A254, ill.
Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 459, ill.
Richard Kendall. Degas, Beyond Impressionism. Exh. cat., National Gallery. London, 1996, pp. 48, 72, 188, 298, 307 n. 134, no. 24, ill. p. 203 (color), dates it about 1897–1901; 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; discusses the independent status of drawings such as this one, which was signed, sold, and published; notes that individual figures such as this might later be incorporated into multi-figure compositions.
Julian Barnes. "The Artist as Voyeur." Modern Painters 9 (Autumn 1996), p. 22.
Gary Tinterow inLa collection Havemeyer: Quand l'Amérique découvrait l'impressionnisme. Exh. cat., Musée d'Orsay. Paris, 1997, pp. 27, 104, no. 2, ill. (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 29.100.556 were bought by the Havemeyers for Fr 9,000 on May 4, 1906.
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, under no. 56, records the sale of MMA 29.100.556 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, noting that the sale probably included this work.
Impressionist & Modern Masters. Exh. cat., Paris Biennale des Antiquaires. [London], 2008, unpaginated, under no. 7, ill. (color).
This figure appears in several pastels, including Dancers in the Wings, (Saint Louis Art Museum; L1066), Two Dancers in the Wings (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; L944), Dancers with Fans (Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford; L1321), Dancers (Reader's Digest Association Inc., New York; L1223), and Pink Dancers (private collection; L942).
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