Dancer Ready to Dance, with Right Foot Forward, 1882–95
Brown wax, 22 x 13 3/4 x 8 1/4 in. (55.9 x 35 x 21 cm)
Gift of the Estate of Paul Mellon, B.A. 1929
2000.25.1
This exceptional work is an original wax sculpture modeled by Degas's own hand. After the artist's death in 1917, it was found in his studio, along with many other works in wax, clay, and other materials, and it served as the basis for the bronze casts of the same pose undertaken by the founder A. A. Hébrard after 1919. The dancer's posture suggests a ballerina in class or on stage; she could be either stationary or preparing to step forward. The figure is one of hundreds that Degas sculpted, sketched, and painted over the course of his career, the result of a lifelong interest in all aspects of the dance. During the 1880s and 1890s, Degas produced at least twenty-five sculptures of dancers, after exhibiting his tour-de-force, Little Dancer Aged Fourteen, in 1881 at the sixth Impressionist exhibition.
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