Art: The Little Dancer by Degas

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Last weekend, I got to spend 7 whole hours by myself at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC. Because the boys were with their father, I didn't even have to make sure my phone was on Just In Case. I can't tell you how nice that was.

I am going to share some of my favourite works this week. I went to the East (modern) and West (older) wings and the Sculpture Garden and I also crossed to the Hirshorn (modern).

My most favourite was The Little Dancer by Degas. It is in a room with a lot of other sculptures by Degas and Rodin. I went back there at the end just to look at it again (and the other works. I like Rodin a lot, too). In an alternate universe I would like to be a sculptor. I like looking and seeing the artist's fingers and hands pressed into the materials (or evidence of their hands, similarly I like looking at paintings very close and seeing the brush strokes).

Comments

[smallhobbit]

That is such a beautiful sculpture.

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Yes, it was my favourite of everything I saw. I just love it.

[dr_zook]

Oooh, thank you for sharing your favourite!

I think I'm slightly creeped out by this sculpture, because... hm. It reminds me of a clothed mummy, if that makes sense. While I appreciate that the girl isn't naked (which would be creepy on another scale), it's unsettling me on a different scale. I have to think about this a bit more! Thank you for this. :D

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Yes, it does look like a clothed mummy, (it's wax, by the way, so a softer appearance than, say, stone) and the clothing is so old (yet remarkably still intact). Ah, I hate to tell you but there was one of her naked in the same room. Same pose. Same size. Yeah. :/

I don't find it unsettling but I can appreciate why you might.

[dr_zook]

I'm realizing I know next to nothing about Degas, the only thing associating with him were his paintings depicting dancers in severals states of preparation and the Absinthe drinker. But if Huysmans saw the future in his unheard-of new way of sculpturing I'm even more intrigued. ;) Thank you again for this!