Today, ballet dancing is seen as the epitome of grace and discipline. Dancers are viewed with respect, as poised artists, and attending a ballet is the height of class. What’s highlighted is the effortlessness of the dancers’ movements and the beauty of their performances. But in 19th century France, this was not the case. Ballet dancers were part of operas, and were looked down on as some of the lowest of society. Young girls joined the opera to train as ballet dancers, but were called “opera rats” and were often oversexualized. They were seen as part of the working class, no better than a housekeeper. In fact, the sexual connotations were even worse, as the culture of the ballet was one of prostitution and sexual exploitation, as men attended the ballet to ogle at the dancers. And backstage, the expectation was that the dancers would sell and perform sexual favors for the men in the audience.
In this context arises a tension with portrayals of ballet dancers in art. Most works from Edgar Degas have the subject of dancers, as Degas attempted to bring the working class into light. Other artists made caricatures of dancers or scenes at a ballet to print in newspapers. And we can also find advertisements for ballet performances, which show dancers as airy and graceful. Viewing these types of images together shows us how dancers were viewed, and how much of the culture surrounding operas and ballet dancers was negative, but still nuanced. In exploring these differing viewpoints, we are confronted with how much we’ve seen culture change, even in small things, as well as how art can offer redemption to the lowly, as Degas strives to showcase the hard work of ballet despite the sexual connotations dance held in the culture around him.
Honoré Daumier, Mr. Colimard, if you don't immediately stop ogling the dancers..., from ‘Theater sketches,’ published in Le Charivari, May 4, 1864
1864, Lithograph on newsprint
Image: 9 3/16 x 8 11/16 in, Sheet: 11 13/16 x 11 7/16 in, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 62.650.357
Translated, the French caption at the bottom of the page reads, “Mr. Colimard, if you don't immediately stop ogling the dancers in such an unseemly manner, I will take you home before the end of the performance!” Both the image and the caption highlight the sexual nature of ballet dancers, as the man unashamedly uses opera glasses to look at the dancer, ignoring the woman beside him, who we can only assume to be his wife. And the dancer adds to the situation, dancing in a way that lifts her skirt up to the audience below the stage.
Richard Newton, Mademoiselle Parisot
1796, Hand-colored etching on paper
11 15/16 x 13 15/16 in, The British Museum
This print is a caricature of men looking at a dancer in a way that has extreme sexual connotations. We also notice that the dancer is in a dress that’s revealing, again showing that the context of these dances was one that placed a spotlight on the sexuality of the dancers. But the point of this caricature is not the dancer, but rather the men in the box looking at her. In front is the Duke of Queensberry, and behind him is a fat bishop. These men act as a symbolic commentary on the behavior of men watching dances, and how it was normal and expected that the focus would be on the dancer as a sexual object, not as an artist.
Paul Renouard, L’Opéra
1890, Etching on paper
20 6/8 x 14 2/7 in, The British Museum
This etching, showing a young dancer leaning over a table reading papers, is part of a series that shows people who were part of the Paris Opera. Here, we see a representation of a dancer that is not a mocking caricature, but gives us a glimpse behind the scenes to show a dancer in a different way. This dancer is not provocative or sexualized, but is reading and thinking. It’s unclear if she’s reading music, or directions for her dance, or something else, but either way she’s alone, and her mind is showcased rather than her sexuality.
Alfred Edward Chalon, Marie Taglioni in La Sylphide (Souvenir d'adieu, No. 2)
1845, Hand-colored lithograph
22 2/5 x 19 3/8 in, Victoria and Albert Museum
This is a print of Marie Taglioni, one of the most famous ballet dancers at the time. She’s shown in light colors with hazy lines, signifying dancers as soft and gentle. This is a contrast to critiques of the ballet as a place that is hypersexual. Instead, ballet and those who perform it are presented as graceful, with an almost ethereal beauty. There’s a luminous quality to the light and shadows that is very different to the harsh caricatures circulating in newspapers at the same time.
Edgar Degas, The Dance Class
1874, oil on canvas
32 7/8 x 30 3/8 in, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1987.47.1
Degas paints and sculpts mostly dancers, as seen in this painting. The scene shown is inside a rehearsal, and we are watching dancers stretch and practice. The ballet master Jules Perrot looks on, ready to critique and instruct. This painting received criticism, as did many works by Degas, because of the nature of the dance world. Ballet performances were so sexualized, and anything that took place behind the curtain was even more so. The fact that Degas depicted rehearsals and dancers behind the scenes was seen as perverted and disrespectful, but Degas was trying to represent the working class, especially females in the workforce. He saw dancers as strong and persevering, and wanted to show the hard work that they do in practice.
Edgar Degas, The Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer
1922, Partially tinted bronze, cotton tarlatan, silk satin, and wood
H. 38 1/2 in x W. 17 1/4 in x D. 14 3/8 in, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 29.100.370
This sculpture, originally made of wax, was clothed in a real leotard, tutu and ballet slippers, and included a wig of human hair tied with a satin ribbon. Degas used art as a way of working things out, which is why his work often has a sketchy quality, seen even in this sculpture as he studies the dancer’s body and sculpts it as a sort of experiment. Critics were offended by her defiant gaze, and were repulsed by her lifelikeness, comparing her to a beast or an animal that has no place in art. Degas is celebrating ballet as something that’s worthy of study, not merely an opportunity for sexual encounters. He sees the body of a dancer as something that is helpful in his artistic endeavors as he works out how the human body works, even though he received criticism for his lingering presence in ballet studios.
References:
Tenneriello, Susan. “Behind the Scenes: Art Work and the Laboring Body in the Dance Images
of Degas.” Dance Chronicle 38, no. 1 (2015): 27-54.
George T. M. Shackelford. Degas: The Dancers. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art. Washington,
1984.
Karthas, Ilyana. “The Politics of Gender and the Revival of Ballet in Early Twentieth Century
France.” Journal of Social History 45, no. 4 (2012): 960-89.
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