Little Dancer of Fourteen Years

　　Little Dancer of Fourteen Years is a c. 1881 sculpture by Edgar Degas of a young student of the Paris Opera Ballet dance school named Marie van Goethem.

　　The sculpture is two-thirds life size and was originally sculpted in wax, an unusual choice of medium for the time. It is dressed in a real bodice, tutu and ballet slippers and has a wig of real hair. All but a hair ribbon and the tutu are covered in wax. The 28 bronze repetitions that appear in museums and galleries around the world today were cast after Degass death. The tutus worn by the bronzes vary from museum to museum.

　　The exact relationship between Marie van Goethem and Edgar Degas is a matter of debate. It was usual in 1880 for the Petits Rats of the Paris Opera to seek protectors from among the wealthy visitors at the back door of the opera.

　　When the La Petite Danseuse de Quatorze Ans was shown in Paris at the Sixth Impressionist Exhibition of 1881, it received mixed reviews. The majority of critics were shocked by the piece. They compared the dancer to a monkey and an Aztec and referred to her as a flower of precocious depravity, with a face marked by the hateful promise of every vice and bearing the signs of a profoundly heinous character. She looked like a medical specimen, they reported, in part because Degas exhibited the sculpture inside a glass case.

　　After Degass death, his heirs made the decision to have the bronze repetitions of Le Petite Danseuse and other wax and mixed-media sculptures cast. The casting took place at the Hbrard foundry in Paris from 1920 until the mid-20th century. Sixty-nine of Degass wax sculptures survived the casting process. One copy of Le Petite Danseuse is currently owned by the creator and owner of Auto Trader, John Madejski. He stated that he bought the sculpture by accident. That copy was sold for 13,257,250 at Sothebys on February, 3rd 2009. Another casting failed to sell at a November 2011 auction at Christies.

　　To construct the statue, Degas used a lead pipe armature and, to some extent, paintbrushes for structural support.

　　The original wax sculpture was acquired by Paul Mellon in 1956. Beginning in 1985, Mr and Mrs Mellon gave the National Gallery of Art 49 Degas waxes, 10 bronzes and 2 plasters, the largest group of original Degas sculptures. Little Dancer was among the bequests. A version is also kept by the M.T. Abraham Center for the Visual Arts, and at times loaned out to other institutions.

　　Cathy Marie Buchanans novel, The Painted Girls, presents a fictionalised account of the life of Marie van Goethem, the model for the sculpture, as does Carolyn Meyers young adult novel Marie, Dancing and Laurence Anholts childrens picture book Degas and the Little Dancer. Richard Kendalls Degas and the Little Dancer is a scholarly work of art history. The BBC documentary The Private Life of a Masterpiece: Little Dancer Aged Fourteen, produced in 2004, closely examines the sculpture, the model, the circumstances of her life, and the critical reaction to the work.

　　作者簡(jiǎn)介：

　　Edgar Degas

　　Edgar Degas , was a French artist famous for his work in painting, sculpture, printmaking and drawing. He is regarded as one of the founders of Impressionism although he rejected the term, and preferred to be called a realist. A superb draftsman, he is especially identified with the subject of dance, and over half of his works depict dancers. These display his mastery in the depiction of movement, as do his racecourse subjects and female nudes. His portraits are notable for their psychological complexity and depiction of human isolation.

　　Early in his career, he wanted to be a history painter, a calling for which he was well prepared by his rigorous academic training and close study of classic art. In his early thirties, he changed course, and by bringing the traditional methods of a history painter to bear on contemporary subject matter, he became a classical painter of modern life.

　　Little Dancer of Fourteen Years

　　Little Dancer of Fourteen Years is a c. 1881 sculpture by Edgar Degas of a young student of the Paris Opera Ballet dance school named Marie van Goethem.

　　The sculpture is two-thirds life size and was originally sculpted in wax, an unusual choice of medium for the time. It is dressed in a real bodice, tutu and ballet slippers and has a wig of real hair. All but a hair ribbon and the tutu are covered in wax. The 28 bronze repetitions that appear in museums and galleries around the world today were cast after Degass death. The tutus worn by the bronzes vary from museum to museum.

　　The exact relationship between Marie van Goethem and Edgar Degas is a matter of debate. It was usual in 1880 for the Petits Rats of the Paris Opera to seek protectors from among the wealthy visitors at the back door of the opera.

　　When the La Petite Danseuse de Quatorze Ans was shown in Paris at the Sixth Impressionist Exhibition of 1881, it received mixed reviews. The majority of critics were shocked by the piece. They compared the dancer to a monkey and an Aztec and referred to her as a flower of precocious depravity, with a face marked by the hateful promise of every vice and bearing the signs of a profoundly heinous character. She looked like a medical specimen, they reported, in part because Degas exhibited the sculpture inside a glass case.

　　After Degass death, his heirs made the decision to have the bronze repetitions of Le Petite Danseuse and other wax and mixed-media sculptures cast. The casting took place at the Hbrard foundry in Paris from 1920 until the mid-20th century. Sixty-nine of Degass wax sculptures survived the casting process. One copy of Le Petite Danseuse is currently owned by the creator and owner of Auto Trader, John Madejski. He stated that he bought the sculpture by accident. That copy was sold for 13,257,250 at Sothebys on February, 3rd 2009. Another casting failed to sell at a November 2011 auction at Christies.

　　To construct the statue, Degas used a lead pipe armature and, to some extent, paintbrushes for structural support.

　　The original wax sculpture was acquired by Paul Mellon in 1956. Beginning in 1985, Mr and Mrs Mellon gave the National Gallery of Art 49 Degas waxes, 10 bronzes and 2 plasters, the largest group of original Degas sculptures. Little Dancer was among the bequests. A version is also kept by the M.T. Abraham Center for the Visual Arts, and at times loaned out to other institutions.

　　Cathy Marie Buchanans novel, The Painted Girls, presents a fictionalised account of the life of Marie van Goethem, the model for the sculpture, as does Carolyn Meyers young adult novel Marie, Dancing and Laurence Anholts childrens picture book Degas and the Little Dancer. Richard Kendalls Degas and the Little Dancer is a scholarly work of art history. The BBC documentary The Private Life of a Masterpiece: Little Dancer Aged Fourteen, produced in 2004, closely examines the sculpture, the model, the circumstances of her life, and the critical reaction to the work.

　　作者簡(jiǎn)介：

　　Edgar Degas

　　Edgar Degas , was a French artist famous for his work in painting, sculpture, printmaking and drawing. He is regarded as one of the founders of Impressionism although he rejected the term, and preferred to be called a realist. A superb draftsman, he is especially identified with the subject of dance, and over half of his works depict dancers. These display his mastery in the depiction of movement, as do his racecourse subjects and female nudes. His portraits are notable for their psychological complexity and depiction of human isolation.

　　Early in his career, he wanted to be a history painter, a calling for which he was well prepared by his rigorous academic training and close study of classic art. In his early thirties, he changed course, and by bringing the traditional methods of a history painter to bear on contemporary subject matter, he became a classical painter of modern life.