The theme of bathing women, a constant in Degas’s oeuvre, is almost always identified with the world of the prostitute. This enchanting monotype, however, provides clues to the contrary. The woman leaving the bath, for example, is assisted by a maid. Although the woman is unclothed, her position facing away from the viewer suggests a modesty that is absent from Degas’s unambiguous brothel scenes. The crammed but carefully arranged interior is appointed with furnishings indicative of an inhabitant of a higher social class, and the light coming from the window indicates daytime rather than the shadows of night.
Details
- Artist Name: Edgar Degas (French, 1834-1917)
- Title: Woman Getting out of Her Bath
- Date: c. 1876-1877
- Medium: Pastel over monotype on laid paper
- Dimensions: 6-11/16 x 8-11/16 in. (17 x 22 cm)
- Credit Line: Norton Simon Art Foundation
- Accession Number: M.1978.26.P
- Copyright: © Norton Simon Art Foundation
Object Information
[Leicester Galleries, London, by 1923].
Jules Strauss, Paris (sale, Paris, Galerie Georges Petit, 15 December 1932, lot 14, as Femme sortant du bain, to);
[Galerie Druet, Paris].
Paul de Laboulaye, Paris, by 1937.
[Galerie Druet, Paris, by 1946].
[Sam Salz, New York, sold 18 May 1960 to];
Erich Maria Remarque (1898-1970), Porto Ronco, in exchange for a Delacroix. By inheritance to his wife;
Paulette Goddard, sold 1978 to;
[Walter Feilchenfeldt, Zurich; offered 10 July 1978 and subsequently sold 21 October 1978 to];
Norton Simon Art Foundation.
Degas dans les collections françaises. Exposition organisée au profit de la Ligue Nationale contre le Taudis
- Wildenstein & Co. (Paris, France), 1955 to
Edgar Degas 1837-1917. Exposition organisée au profit de la Société des Amis du Louvre_1
- Paris, Galerie Durand-Ruel, 1960-06-09 to 1960-10-01
[on loan]
- Art Institute of Chicago, 1978-11-01 to 1979-05-15
Degas
- Paris, Musee de l'Orangerie, de Tuileries, 1937-03 to 1937-04
Taking Shape: Degas as Sculptor
- Norton Simon Museum, 2017-11-09 to 2018-04-09
Redesigned Degas Galleries
- Norton Simon Museum, 1995-05-04 to 1997-06-01
- Lemoisne, Paul-André, Degas et son oeuvre, no. 423 p. 233
- Russoli, Franco; and Fiorella Minervino, L'opera completa di Degas, no. 428 p. 106
- Meier-Graefe, Julius, Degas, pl. LXVIII
- Meier-Graefe, Julius, Degas, pl. 69
- Wildenstein, D., Gazette des Beaux-Arts, no. 77 p. 43
- Janis, Eugenia Parry, Degas Monotypes, 1968, no. 174
- Thomson, Richard, Degas: The Nudes, 1988, pl. 82
- Masterpieces from the Norton Simon Museum, 1989, p. 150
- Brettell, Richard, Monet to Moore: the Millennium Gift of the Sara Lee Corporation, 1999, no. 10 p. 31
- Campbell, Sara et al., Degas in the Norton Simon Museum, 2009, Fig. 10 pp. 44, 125
- Campbell, Sara, Collector Without Walls: Norton Simon and His Hunt for the Best, 2010, cat. 1548 p. 419
- Museum of Modern Art, Edgar Degas: A Strange New Beauty, 2016, Figure 9 p. #27
- Michel Schulman, Degas Catalogue Raisonné Online, 2021, MS-971
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