Edgar Degas

EDGAR DEGAS (Paris, 1834 - 1917)
"Danseuse mettant son bas".
Bronze with nuanced brown patina.
Height: 49,7 cm
Signed on the base with the seal of Degas
Foundry stamp: "CIRE PERDUE C. VALSUANI".
Numbered: IX/IX
Casting authorized by the artist's family. Postum edition.
Provenance: European private collection.
Bibliography: Hébrard 29 ; Pingeot 14 ; Rewald 56 ; Czestochowski 29
Certificate of authenticity of Artco France Éditeur d'Art (2007)
We thank the Comité Degas for their collaboration and the possibility of obtaining an additional certificate issued by the Comité Degas (at the buyer's expense).

This bronze sculpture, entitled "Danseuse mettant son bas" (Dancer putting on a stocking), is one of the most intimate and expressive works in Edgar Degas' sculptural repertoire. The figure depicts a young dancer in the act of pulling up a stocking, an everyday gesture that Degas elevates to the status of art through his compositional and material sensibility. The pose, natural yet elegantly unbalanced, with the right leg raised and the torso leaning forward, captures an ephemeral moment with remarkable rhythmic tension and bodily grace.
The surface of the bronze has a rough texture, a direct result of the original wax modeling, where Degas sought to preserve the gestural and immediate character of his technique. Far from anatomical idealization, the artist opted for a more sincere and experimental representation of the female body, marked by irregularities, material accumulations and an almost tactile perception of volume.

This bronze belongs to the posthumous edition made by the Valsuani foundry using the lost wax process, under the strict control of the artist's family. The numbering IX/IX indicates that it is part of the series numbered in Roman numerals, which complements another run marked with letters A to T.

The subject matter of this work is directly linked to Degas's obsession with the world of ballet and, especially, with non-stage moments: rehearsal, preparation, rest. As in his famous pastels of ballerinas at rest or in the iconic sculpture "Petite danseuse de quatorze ans", Degas transcends formal virtuosity to capture the psychological and physical truth of the gesture. The dancer, oblivious to the viewer, concentrates on her action with a naturalness that evidences the distant, almost ethnographic gaze of the artist.

The quality of this casting and the legitimacy of its provenance make this work a singular piece within Degas' sculptural corpus, of great interest to both private collectors and museum institutions.

The relevance of Edgar Degas in the history of modern art is indisputable: a pioneer in the representation of the body in movement, his sculptural work anticipated many of the formal concerns of the twentieth century. Although conceived as private studies, his sculptures - today present in museums such as the Musée d'Orsay, the Metropolitan Museum or the National Gallery of Art - are considered fundamental to understanding the transition between the academic tradition and modernity. This piece, therefore, not only embodies Degas' technical mastery, but also his essential place in the canon of modern sculpture.