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1985 - The Little 14 Year Old Dancer Post Card
1985 - The Little 14 Year Old Dancer Post Card
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The post card shows The Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer (also known as Little Dancer Aged Fourteen), an iconic sculpture created by the French Impressionist artist Edgar Degas between 1878 and 1881.
Key Facts About the Masterpiece
- The Model: The sculpture portrays Marie van Goethem, a young, working-class Belgian student training at the Paris Opera Ballet. Dancers like her were commonly referred to backstage as les petits rats ("little rats").
- The Materials: Degas broke heavily from 19th-century traditions. Instead of sculpting in classical marble or bronze, he crafted the unique original from pigmented beeswax. He dressed it in real fabrics, including a linen bodice, a gauze tutu, a silk hair ribbon, and a wig made of actual human hair.
- Historical Controversy: When first exhibited at the Sixth Impressionist Exhibition in Paris in 1881, the piece caused an absolute public uproar. Critics rejected its raw, unidealized realism, calling the figure "ugly," "bestial," and comparing her face to that of a monkey. Due to the harsh backlash, Degas never exhibited another sculpture publicly during his lifetime.
- The Bronze Casts: The sculpture in your image is one of about 28 posthumous bronze replicas. They were authorized by Degas's heirs and cast by the Hébrard foundry following his death in 1917.
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