I took this photo through thick glass at the Musee d'Orsay in Paris a few weeks ago. It is Edgar Degas' near life-sized sculpture "La Petite Danseuse de Quatorze Ans," which translates roughly to "The Little Dancer Aged Fourteen Years." The figure was created between 1821-1831. What makes it cool to me is that even though it's a statue, it has a muslin fabric skirt/tutu and a satin ribbon tying back the bronze hair.
I took this photo partly because I was confused. Earlier this year I read that this bronze was auctioned by Sotheby's and sold to a private Japanese buyer for $19 million (that's £13.3 for you Brits). After my trip to Paris I came to find that there are actually MANY of these in existence. Apparently Degas only ever completed one of these (in wax) and after his death his good friend created a limited number of bronzes cast from Degas' original (the original wax one is in Washington DC).
It was kind-of a let-down to learn that the one I saw wasn't the only one, and that Degas himself didn't physically make the bronze version. I have since read that some of the bronzes were originally naturally colored, fitted with real hair and wore real ballet slippers. That's pretty excellent, and so while this isn't the only one, and it isn't the $19 million one, it's still worthy of my Pic of the Week.
RSS Feed