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    Degas' Little dancer, aged fourteen : the earlier version that helped spark the birth of modern art / Gregory Hedberg.

    • Title:Degas' Little dancer, aged fourteen : the earlier version that helped spark the birth of modern art / Gregory Hedberg.
    •    
    • Author/Creator:Hedberg, Gregory, author.
    • Published/Created:Stuttgart : Arnoldsche Art Publishers, 2016.
      ©2016
    • Holdings

       
    • Library of Congress Subjects:Degas, Edgar, 1834-1917. Little dancer.
      Degas, Edgar, 1834-1917--Criticism and interpretation.
      Sculpture, French--19th century.
      Ballet dancing in art.
    • Description:312 pages : illustrations (chiefly color), portraits ; 31 cm + 1 computer disc (4 3/4 in.)
    • Summary:"Beginning with the hitherto unknown plaster version of Edgar Degas' Little Dancer, Aged Fourteen, Dr Gregory Hedberg undertakes a comprehensive re-evaluation of the significance and influence of this work of modern art. A recently discovered plaster of 'Little Dancer, Aged Fourteen' is upending our understanding of Edgar Degas' most famous work. Documentary and technical evidence confirm that the plaster was cast from Degas' 'Little Dancer' before the wax sculpture was extensively reworked after 1903. The plaster thus records Degas' wax as it appeared when it shocked the Parisian art world at the sixth Impressionist exhibition of 1881. It reveals a far more revolutionary work than the reworked Little Dancer wax and the posthumous HeĢbrard bronzes we know today. The plaster shows why Joris-Karl Huysmans, in 1881, raved that Degas' 'Little Dancer' was 'the only "truly modern" attempt I know of in sculpture' and why the work left Whistler in a state of near delirium. The plaster reveals Degas at his most innovative by introducing a radical idea of posing a lowly 'opera rat' as a revered figure by giving her an iconic pose, then locking her into a square vitrine, thus emphasizing her symmetrical, four-side stance. It is now clear that in his 'Little Dancer' Degas anticipated radical ideas that came to define key aspects of modern art, dramatically impacting Degas' most noted peers, including Whistler, Manet, Seurat and Sargent. Even twentieth-century masterpieces by Duchamp, Giacometti, Oldenburg, Warhol and Hirst reflect, albeit indirectly, Degas' masterful innovations"--Provided by publisher.
    • Notes:The accompanying CD-ROM contains all five appendixes.
      Includes bibliographical references and index.
    • ISBN:9783897903920
      389790392X
    • Contents:Introduction
      The two versions of Degas' Little Dancer, Aged Fourteen: a detailed analysis
      The Little Dancer plaster: recording an iconic moment in a contrapposto age : the iconic versus the contrapposto
      Paris in the 1880s: a sudden flourish of four-sided poses
      Degas and modern art
      Visual timeline: the four castings of the Little Dancer, Aged Fourteen
      Chronologies I and II: creation, re-workings, and castings of the Little Dancer, Aged Fourteen and the Nude Little Dancer. Appendix A: all reviews from 1881 that refer to Degas' Little Dancer, Aged Fourteen
      Appendix B: Degas' preliminary drawings for the Little Dancer, Aged Fourteen
      Appendix C: Measurement and visual comparison
      Appendix D: documentation
      Appendix E: questions and answers.
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