Tag: french

Little Dancer Aged Fourteen by Edgar Degas

Photo of the Little Dancer statue
Edgar Degas (French, 1834 – 1917), Little Dancer Aged Fourteen, 1878-1881, pigmented beeswax, clay, metal armature, rope, paintbrushes, human hair, silk and linen ribbon, cotton faille bodice, cotton and silk tutu, linen slippers, on wooden base, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon 1999.80.28

Tired or determined? This is Marie van Goethem, a young ballet student at the Paris Opera. We’ll find out where she came from and the not-so-glamorous life of a ballerina in Paris in the 1880s.  We’ll also find out how Degas broke the rules and managed to freak out the public with this statue!

We’ll also discover how he was the original upcycler, using materials he had on hand to create her! See the photo below.

An Illustration of the materials used in Little Dancer armature.
Diagram of the armature of Little Dancer Aged Fourteen. Courtesy of the Object Conservation Department, National Gallery of Art.

At the end of the episode, I let you know which mystery show she plays an important role in!

Ed. note: I’d like to thank the staff of the Object Conservation Department at the Gallery for their help with today’s episode.

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SHOW NOTES (TRANSCRIPT)

“A Long Look” theme is “Ascension” by Ron Gelinas

Episode theme is “Violin Sonata in A major” composed by César Franck. Sonata for Cello and Piano – I. Allegretto ben moderato. Performed by Paul Pitman, Bang-Eun Lee

Degas’s Little Dancer exhibition brochure (PDF)

Little Dancer Aged Fourteen (NGA Highlights Essay)

Degas and His Dancers (Smithsonian Magazine)

Modeling with Clay (YouTube)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocAc–CQdPw

Little Dancer featured in Endeavour (link expires 6/30/19)

Slow Art Day

Portrait of Madame du Barry by Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun

Portrait of elegant woman in exterior setting.
Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun (French, 1755 – 1842), Madame du Barry, 1782, oil on canvas, Corcoran Collection (William A. Clark Collection) 2014.136.36

In a complete 180 from the spiritual contemplation of our last episode, today we’re looking at the portrait of Jeanne Bécu, who became Madame du Barry, the last mistress of Louis XV of France. She lived and loved (a lot!) in the days before the French Revolution. We’ll find out her fate along with that of her portraitist, Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun. I’ll give you a hint–only one of them survives!

Here’s the portrait of Élisabeth with her daughter I mention.

Painting of woman seated and holding her daughter in her lap.
Self-portrait of Élisabeth and her daughter.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (8.3MB)

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SHOW NOTES (TRANSCRIPT)

“A Long Look” theme is “Ascension” by Ron Gelinas

Episode theme is “String Quartet no. 3, Op. 136” composed by Benjamin Godard, performed by Steve’s Bedroom Band. Courtesy of musopen.org

Madame du Barry information

Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun information

Memoirs of Madame Vigée Lebrun
Translated by Lionel Strachey Published by Doubleday, Page, & Company 1903. Free epub available at Google Books

Wikipedia entry on Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun

Grove Art Online (for DC library card holders):

Liechtenstein painting information

National Gallery copyist program information

Slow Art Day