French artist Edgar Degas (1834 – 1917) is well known for his paintings of ballerinas, as well as depictions of everyday Parisian life. The Impressionist artist left a lasting legacy of work, with one of the most striking pieces being Little Dancer Aged Fourteen, a sculpture of a dancer. The piece is notable for a number of reasons, both artistically and historically.
Degas first gained access to the ballet world through his friend Jules-Joseph Perrot, a ballet choreographer who worked with the Paris Opera. Starting out with sketches and paintings, Degas had found ballet images to be lucrative, which explains why he produced so many. Many are fully Expressionist in their depiction of dance, capturing the movement and colour of the routines. Some were more realistic, including showing the darksuited patrons of some of the young dancers who Degas would have seen lingering around the rehearsal spaces. This is something of the darker side of Parisian ballet, and life in general, that Degas wasn’t afraid to confront in his work, which feeds into this sculpture.