Between 1873 and 1874, Degas made several studies of dancers adjusting their shoes, shown in different poses and from different angles. These drawings served as preparatory studies for his ballet scenes of the same period. Squared for transfer, the figure in this study was used in the 1874 pastel Dancers Resting (private collection); her tenuously held pose characterizes Degas's approach to his models. The same dancer, shown in three-quarter view, also appears in The Rehearsal of the Ballet Onstage in the Museum's collection (29.160.26).
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Artwork Details
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Title:Dancer Adjusting Her Slipper
Artist:Edgar Degas (French, Paris 1834–1917 Paris)
Date:1873
Medium:Graphite heightened with black and white chalk on pink wove paper (now faded); squared for transfer
Dimensions:Sheet: 13 in. × 9 5/8 in. (33 × 24.4 cm) Framed: 21 × 16 in. (53.3 × 40.6 cm)
Classification:Drawings
Credit Line:H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929
Object Number:29.100.941
Signature: Lower left corner, in graphite: Degas
Inscription: Inscribed center right: "le bras est enfoncé un/ peu dans la / mousseline" (the arm is slightly nestled in the muslin)
Louisine W. Havemeyer
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The H. O. Havemeyer Collection," March 10–November 2, 1930.
Phillips Memorial Gallery. "Loan Exhibition of Drawings & Pastels by Edgar Degas, 1834-1917," March 30, 1947–April 30, 1947.
Marion Koogler McNay Art Institute. "Paintings, Drawings, Prints and Sculpture by Edgar Degas," October 16, 1955–November 13, 1955.
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.
Indianapolis Museum of Art. "Treasures from the Metropolitan," October 25, 1970–January 3, 1971.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Degas in the Metropolitan," February 26–September 4, 1977.
Galerie des Beaux-Arts, Bordeaux. "Profil du Metropolitan Museum of Art de New York: de Ramsès à Picasso," May 15, 1981–September 1, 1981.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Degas," September 27, 1988–January 8, 1989.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Splendid Legacy: The Havemeyer Collection," March 27–June 20, 1993.
Detroit Institute of Arts. "Degas and the Dance," October 20, 2002–January 12, 2003.
Philadelphia Museum of Art. "Degas and the Dance," February 16, 2003–May 11, 2003.
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. "Degas: The Uncontested Master," December 12, 2008–March 22, 2009.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Drawings and Prints: Selections from the Permanent Collection," July 13–October 4, 2009.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Making The Met, 1870–2020," August 29, 2020–January 3, 2021.
MMA 1988.135; MMA Havemeyer 1993. 206
Making the Met, 1870–2020. Andrea Bayer, Laura D. Corey, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, p. 138, fig. 143.
The H.O. Havemeyer Collection: Catalogue of Paintings, Prints, Sculpture and Objects of Art. Privately published, New York, 1931, p. 186.
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. 45., cat. no. 55 (vol.2), fig. no. 55, ill.
Lillian Browse Degas Dancers. Studio Publications, New York, 1949, cat. no. 20, ill.
Regina Shoolman, Charles E. Slatkin Six Centuries of French Master Drawings in America. Oxford University Press, New York, 1950, fig. no. pl. 105, p. 186, ill.
René Huyghe Edgar-Hilaire-Germain Degas. Paris, 1953, cat. no. 31, ill.
The H.O. Havemeyer Collection. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2nd edition. New York, 1958, cat. no. 131, p. 24.
Jakob Rosenberg Great Draughtsmen from Pisanello to Picasso. Cambridge, MA, 1959, cat. no. 206, ill.
Louisine W. Havemeyer Sixteen to Sixty, Memoirs of a Collector. New York, 1961, p. 252.
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, cat. no. 71, pp. 114-116, ill.
Treasures from the Metropolitan. Exh. cat., Inaugural Exhibition of the Indianapolis Museum of Art, Oct. 25, 1970 - Jan. 3, 1971. Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, 1970, cat. no. 53, p. 76, ill.
Profil du Metropolitan Museum of Art de New York, de Ramsès à Picasso.. Galerie des Beaux-Arts, Bordeaux, Bordeaux, May 15 - Sept. 1,1981, cat. no. 146, ill.
Frederick Malins Drawing Ideas of the Masters: Artists' techniques compared and contrasted. Phaidon Press, Oxford, 1981, reproduced on p. 54 and as frontispiece, cat. no. 45, p. 54, ill.
George T. M. Shackelford Degas: The Dancers. Ex. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., Washington, D.C., 1984, fig. no. 2.4, pp. 47-50, ill.
Denys Sutton Edgar Degas: Life and Work. Rizzoli. New York, 1986, fig. no. 144, p. 168, 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. 135, pp. 241-242, ill.
Alice Cooney Frelinghuysen, Gary Tinterow Splendid Legacy: The Havemeyer Collection. Exh. cat.: March 27-June 20. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1993, cat. no. 206, pp. 42,212,286,3, ill.
Jill DeVonyar, Richard Kendall Degas and the Dance. Exh. cat., Detroit Institute of Arts, October 20, 2002-January 12, 2003, Philadelphia Museum of Art, February 12-May 11, 2003. New York, 2002, fig. no. 227, p. 203, ill.
Jane Kinsman, Michael Pantazzi Degas: The Uncontested Master. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Australia, Reprinted and revised 2009. Canberra, 2008-2009, cat. no. 58, p. 137, ill.
Henri Loyrette Degas at the Opera. National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., Musée d'Orsay, Washington, DC, 2019, fig. no. 25, p. 46, ill.
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