Currently not on view
Bather (Standing Female Nude),
ca. 1896
Edgar Degas, 1834–1917; born and died Paris, France
x1943-136
This expressive drawing on blue-green paper is one in a series of pastel figure studies Degas made in preparation for an enormous composition depicting a group of nude women bathing in a verdant landscape setting. A surviving underdrawing for this unfinished work suggests that Degas intended to create a modern rendition of a classical myth related in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, in which the goddess Diana is furious to discover that Jupiter has conceived a child with the nymph Callisto, who is seen here fleeing, covering her pregnant belly in shame.
Information
Title
Bather (Standing Female Nude)
Dates
ca. 1896
Maker
Medium
Charcoal and pastel
Dimensions
47 × 32 cm (18 1/2 × 12 5/8 in.)
frame: 74.9 × 58.7 × 4.1 cm (29 1/2 × 23 1/8 × 1 5/8 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Frank Jewett Mather Jr.
Object Number
x1943-136
Signatures
Stamped, lower right: Degas
Inscription
in graphite, on verso, upper left: no2
in blue crayon, on verso center: 1417 [or possibly1477 / 1417 / 14-17] | Pb 818
Culture
Type
Materials
Subject
Degas Atelier; Bernheim Jeune; Weyhe
- Jean Sutherland Boggs, "Degas at the museum: works in the Philadelphia Museum of Art and John G. Johnson collection", Bulletin (Philadelphia Museum of Art) 81, no. 346/347, (Spring/Summer, 1985): p. 2-48., p. 29 (illus.)
- Jean Sutherland Boggs, Degas: [an exhibition held at the] Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, 9 February-16 May 1988, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 16 June-28 August 1988, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 27 September 1988-8 January 1989, (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art; Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 1988)., p. 572, no. 359 (color illus.)
- Kendall, Richard and Griselda Pollock, eds., Dealing with Degas: representations of women and the politics of vIsion, (London: Universe, 1992)., p. 155
- Dominique H. Vasseur and Karen Wilkin, Edgar Degas: the many dimensions of a master French impressionist: an exhibition, (Dayton, OH: Dayton Art Institute, 1994)., cat. no. 42; p. 81 (color illus.)
- Richard Kendall, Degas: beyond impressionism, (London: National Gallery Publications in association with the Art Institute of Chicago; New Haven, Ct: distributed by Yale University Press, 1996)., cat. no. 80; p. 268 (illus.)
- Ann Dumas, Degas and America: the early collectors, (Atlanta, GA: High Museum of Art; Minneapolis, Mn: Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 2000).
- Judy Collischan, End papers: drawings 1890-1900 and 1990-2000: January 30-April 23, 2000, Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase College, State University of New York, (Purchase, NY: Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase College, State University of New York, 2000).
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George T. M. Shackelford and Xavier Rey, Degas and the nude, (Boston: Museum of Fine Arts Boston, 2011).
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Degas (Tuesday, February 09, 1988 - Sunday, January 08, 1989)
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Nineteenth-Century Pastels, Drawings, Watercolors (Complement to Cezanne Exhibition) (Saturday, February 01, 1992 - Sunday, April 05, 1992)
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Degas and the Nude, Museum of Fine Arts Boston (October 09, 2011- February 5, 2012); Musee d'Orsay (March 13, 2012- July 1, 2012)
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Degas: A New Vision, National Gallery of Victoria (June 24–September 18, 2016); The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (October 16, 2016–January 16, 2017)
