The Bodies of Degas

One could argue that French painter Edgar Degas is most famous for his depictions of female ballet dancers and bathers. Throughout his career, he created up to 1,500 pieces centered around dancers alone. Degas was most prominent during the French Impressionist movement, however, he was stylistically very different from most of the other considered Impressionist artists at the time. While most Impressionist artists were fascinated with light and nature, Degas was different in that he was interested in capturing what occurred within the indoors, meaning the opera and theater, and various scenes of everyday life like his bathers. He was drawn to the fleeting moments of modern life. Degas underwent intense study, often through his quick hand drawn sketches that he repeatedly redrew, while also doing multiple studies of the female nude bathing and undergoing daily routine. 

Many scholars have questioned the intention behind Degas repetitive study of the female, wondering if he was purley trying to create an erotic experience. However, Degas was not seeking after his models out of pleasure, but rather was seeking them out in order to prey on his fascination with their obscure bodily positions: the painful twisting, bending, and stretching that encapsulated their individual realities and modern life. While Degas was attempting to capture the life of most working class females in France, his surrounding society was doing the opposite. At the same time, French fashion magazines were displaying perfectly polished and poised women. To society, these figures were what compiled together to make the epitome of success as a female. As you will see, Degas’ work starkly contrasted against these depictions. Rather than seeking out a controlled composition with perfectly staged and elegant models, Degas had a mission to capture the awkwardness and discomfort from scenes of reality and modern life.

Edgar Degas, Dancers at the Barre, 1905, Oil on canvas, 38.5 x 51.25 in.,The Phillips Collection, Washington D.C.

As it will be seen throughout this exhibition and as one could see throughout almost all of Degas’ repertoire of works, Degas was most interested in capturing the fleeting moments of everyday life. Here we have Degas' common motif of two dancers resting against a ballet barre. As seen here, Degas was fascinated by the positioning of the bodies of dancers as they had to force themselves to stretch, lean and bend in unnatural ways to the average person. Oftentimes, they appeared awkward and ugly in the process. He was drawn to the overall physicality and discomfort that came with their craft behind the curtain, and he wanted to capture the reality of their practice that those who attended the opera and theater, who saw the polished, the most perfected, and most unrealistic versions of the dancers, did not ever get to see. 

Edgar Degas, Woman Drying Her Foot, 1885-86, Pastel on buff wove paper, 19 3/4 x 21 1/4 in. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (29.100.36)

 

This piece shows a nude female, sitting down, and stretching forward to dry her left foot. Similar to Dancers at the Barre, the female in this piece is stretching and leaning against the bathtub in a motion that mimics how the dancers lean against the ballet barre. Her flexibility is lacking, as seen through the bending of the left leg and upward pull of the right foot in order to be able to reach the left foot against the tub. Her back is hunched and the viewer can see her breast and rolls of skin as they squish against her left thigh. Her right hand reaches behind her, grabbing and clutching at the white towel. Within this piece, Degas captures the physical strain and awkwardness required to dry oneself off, although it was an activity that was not typically captured or advertised.

Laure Noël,  J. Bonnard, La Mode Illustrée, 1877, No. 51 : Toilettes de Madame Fladry, 1877, Steel engraving with color on paper, 362 × w 260 mm, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands

This is a fashion plate from the French fashion magazine La Mode Illustrée, which was published weekly from 1860 to 1937. Like many other fashion magazines that rivaled, the illustrations within starkly contrast against the works and ideals behind those of Degas. Here we see two women, wearing elegant dresses of high fashion with their hair and makeup perfectly done. They are posed within an extravagant looking room, exhibiting an overall grand amount of wealth. This depiction of women is highly different from those of Degas in that they are not captured undergoing activities of modern life, rather they are merely posing for the artist. They also are not having to over extend their bodies in any way, looking as if they did not lift a finger into getting to where they are in this scene. 

Edgar Degas, Dancers Practicing at the Barre, 1877, Mixed Media on Canvas, 29 3/4 x 32 in., The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (29.100.34)

Similar to Dancers at the Barre, this piece depicts two female dancers stretching against a ballet barre. They are straining their legs to extend and rest on the barre, and are pointing their toes and forcing them to face the wall, a very unnatural and uncomfortable stance to the average human body. The dancer on the viewers right is undergoing a stretching position in the forward direction, forcing her back to undergo an arch as she reaches for her right foot, a position depicted in several other works by Degas, including Woman Drying Her Foot. Dancers were not considered to be anywhere near high class at this time. In contrast, current fashion magazines depicted women of high class and wealth, staged, and exhibiting the epitome of effortlessness. This is another example of Degas showing working class women undergoing unnatural physical extremity and strain within their daily life and work.

Edgar Degas, Woman Drying Her Arm, late 1880s–early 1890s, Pastel and charcoal on light pink wove paper, 12 x 17 ½ in., The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (29.100.553)

Here we have another one of Degas many pastel capturings of a woman drying herself off after a bath. As seen in Woman Drying Her Foot and Dancers Practicing at the Barre, the woman here is leaning and hunched forwards in order to properly dry the underside of her right arm. Her spine is flexing and extending, and the skin of her abdomen is rolling and squishing together as a result of her bending and leaning. Her right arm is raised and maintained in mid-air, forcing her shoulder blade to define itself, while she uses her left arm to stretch across her body as she cranes her neck in order to dry. Here, Degas captures a very straining bodily position that requires awkward twisting and bending of the figure, similar to his dancers, to achieve a brief, everyday task.

Adèle-Anaïs Toudouze, J. Bonnard, Toilettes de Mme. L. Massieu, from La Mode Illustrée, 1881, Steel engraving with hand coloring, 13 11/16 x 9 13/16 in., The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (53.531.32) 

This piece is another fashion plate from La Mode Illustrée published in 1881. When contrasted against the works of Degas, one can see that the figures within this scene are posed and seeming to exist with minimal effort. Their bodies are fully relaxed and poised. Further, as was seen in all of the fashion magazines from the time, their clothes are perfectly ruffled  and shined, their hair is done, and their faces are beautifully concentrated. To French society, this is what was broadcasted as everyday life, or rather what was desired to be so. However, they differ from Degas in that they exhibit the product of their being, making it look completely effortless, rather than displaying the realistic process and labor that would be required to achieve that level of flawlessness. 

Edgar Degas, Woman Bathing in a Shallow Tub, 1885, Charcoal and pastel on light green wove paper, 32 x 22 ⅛ in., The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (29.100.41)

Here we see a female standing rather than sitting down, and is bending her body downwards to reach the tub below. The tendons around her left knee joint are visibly protruding and straining themselves, and her calf is flexed. Her back is almost completely horizontal as she leans down, and her left arm is pressing onto her bended left knee in order to maintain balance. Within this piece, Degas captures the strained and unattractive action of bending downwards along with the intricate placement of weight required in order to maintain balance of the body, an action one navigates throughout daily life.

Edgar Degas, Woman Putting on a Stocking, 1895-1910, Bronze, 16 3/4 x 11 1/4 x 5 3/4 in., The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (1999.363.17)

Lastly, here we have a sculpture of a woman undergoing the practical act of putting on a stocking. Although this is something that almost all women would do as a part of their daily routines at the time, Degas wanted to capture the physicality of the act that goes unnoticed. Like in Woman Bathing in a Shallow Tub, Degas captures in sculpture form the focused balance and muscular strain required to successfully bend the body downwards while standing and weighing on one leg.