Edgar Degas
Dancer Restingcirca 1879

On view:

Geffen Galleries

Pastel and charcoal drawing of a ballet dancer in a white and teal tutu reading a large sheet of paper beside a cylindrical cast-iron stove, loosely sketched on tan paper

Artist or Maker: Edgar Degas
France, Paris, 1834-1917
Title: Dancer Resting
Culture: French
Date Made: circa 1879
Medium: Pastel and black chalk on paper mounted on board
Dimensions: 30 1/8 x 21 7/8 in. (76.5 x 55.5 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of A. Jerrold Perenchio
Accession Number: M.2025.64.35
Classification: Drawings
Collecting Area: European Painting and Sculpture
Curatorial Notes: Among Edgar Degas’s pastels from the late 1870s and early 1880s, this scene is one of the most restrained. The removed viewpoint, the tranquil subject matter, and the sophisticated but muted palette together reinforce its quiet sensibility. From the diagonal lines of the floorboards and the reductive cylinder of the stove to the detailed rendering of the dancer’s head and hands, the composition is exquisitely executed. Degas exploited the distinct properties of pastel and chalk to indicate the transparency of the tutu, shadows cast from left to right, the glint of a bracelet, and the highlight of red hair, pulled tightly in a bun behind a headband.

For the duration of this drawing, the artist’s absorption must have equaled that of his subject. A dedication at lower right “to his friend” Edmond Duranty, a critic with whom Degas shared an intellectual sympathy, suggests a possible reason why the dancer is depicted reading what appears to be a periodical. Duranty was a major supporter of the Realists and, later, the Impressionists. His treatise “The New Painting”—a response to the Second Impressionist Exhibition in 1876—was the first serious consideration of late nineteenth-century French avant-garde painting and remains one of the most insightful. It also showcased the critic’s understanding of Degas’s work. Claiming that “the series of new ideas was formed above all in the mind of a draftsman . . . a man of the rarest talent and rarest intellect,” it was clear that Duranty had positioned Degas, without ever stating his name, at the forefront of the new movement in painting.

Leah Lehmbeck

2016/2024
Provenance: The artist, about 1880, gift to; Louis-Emile Edmond Duranty (1833–1880), Paris (sale, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, 28–29 January 1881, lot 17, to);(1) Henri Rouart (1833–1912), Paris (sale, Paris, Galerie Manzi-Joyant, 16–18 December 1912, lot 76, to);(2) Alfred Strölin (1871–1954) (sequestered sale, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, 7 July 1921, lot 42, to);(3) [Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris and M. Knoedler & Cie., Paris, sold 22 December 1921 to];(4) [Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris, sold 22 December 1921 to];(4) Joseph Early Widener (1871–1943), Philadelphia;(5) Mrs. Peter A. B. Widener, Philadelphia, by 1950;(6) Mr. and Mrs. Peter A. B. Widener III (1925–1999), Philadelphia, by 1970.(7) Mr. and Mrs. Eugene V. Klein (1921–1990), by April 1983.(8) Anonymous (sale, New York, Christie’s, 15 November 1983, lot 50, to);(9) A. J. Perenchio (1930–2017), Los Angeles, gifted 2025 to; Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Footnotes
(1) Commissaire-priseur Maurice Delestre’s official Procès-verbal for the Duranty sale records the buyer “Rouart” for this lot, for Fr 555. Boggs, Degas, p. 331, no. 215, cites Alphonse Portier buying at the sale, with Portier selling the pastel to Durand-Ruel on 12 February 1881 for Fr 200, stock no. 816. According to Durand-Ruel, that pastel is entitled Danseuse à l’éventail, and seems to have been confused with the present pastel. Durand-Ruel did not own the picture until after the Strölin sale in 1921 (document prepared by Flavie and Paul-Louis Durand-Ruel for Leah Lehmbeck, 8 December 2015).
(2) Stanislas-Henri Rouart (1833–1912), French industrialist, art collector, and amateur Impressionist painter, was Degas’s lifelong friend and supporter. In addition to this Degas, Rouart owned Degas’s At the Café-concert: The Song of the Dog, cat. 9.
(3) The J. Paul Getty Museum’s Cooper copy of Rouart auction catalogue (c. 5) is hand-annotated in ink: “37000 Strolin.” The publisher, printer, and dealer Alfred Strölin was active in Paris. However, at the outbreak of World War I, France declared Strölin, a German national, an enemy alien. As a result his stock and belongings were seized and sold later in a series of French sequestration (liquidation) sales organized by J. Zapp in 1921 and 1922 at Hôtel Drouot.
(4) M. Knoedler & Co., [New York] Painting stockbook 7: 15140–17039, 1921 January–1927 December, no. 15240, along with Durand-Ruel, Paris, stock no. 11907, showing half shares. Durand-Ruel purchased the half share back from Knoedler on 22 December 1921 and the same day sold the painting to Joseph Early Widener (document prepared by Flavie and Paul-Louis Durand-Ruel for Leah Lehmbeck, 8 December 2015).
(5) Joseph Early Widener (1871–1943) was an American art collector and founding benefactor of the National Gallery of Art.
(6) In 1950 the pastel was exhibited at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, lent by Mrs. Peter A. B. Widener. Without more detailed information it is uncertain if this is Mrs. Peter A. B. (Gertrude) Widener II, who died on 3 February 1970, or Mrs. Peter A. B. (Louise Van Meter) Widener III, who married Peter A. B. Widener III in 1947. See also note 7.

(7) According to the Philadelphia Museum of Art exhibition label on the back of the frame for their 1970 exhibition, the lender was “Mr. Peter A. B. Widener 3rd.” Peter A. B. Widener III is the grandson of Joseph Early Widener, and he likely inherited the painting from his grandfather or his father, Peter Arrell Brown Widener II (1895–1948).
(8) According to the San Diego Museum of Art exhibition label on the back of the frame, the lender was “Mr. & Mrs. Eugene V. Klein.” Eugene V. Klein, known as “Gene,” is best known in the sports field as owner of the NFL’s San Diego Chargers and his thoroughbred race horses.
(9) It is probable that the seller in this sale is Eugene V. Klein, as the painting was in his collection through at least June 1983.
Selected Bibliography: Lehmbeck, Leah, ed. Impressionist and Modern Art: The A. Jerrold Perenchio Collection. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Munich: DelMonico Books/Prestel, 2016.
The Impressionists and The Salon (1874-1886) Honoring the Centennial of the First Impressionist Exhibition: California Collections. Riverside: The Regents of the University of California, 1974.
Copyright: photo © Fredrik Nilsen

Edgar Degas
Dancer Restingcirca 1879

On view:

Geffen Galleries

Artist or Maker: Edgar Degas
France, Paris, 1834-1917
Title: Dancer Resting
Culture: French
Date Made: circa 1879
Medium: Pastel and black chalk on paper mounted on board
Dimensions: 30 1/8 x 21 7/8 in. (76.5 x 55.5 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of A. Jerrold Perenchio
Accession Number: M.2025.64.35
Classification: Drawings
Collecting Area: European Painting and Sculpture
Curatorial Notes: Among Edgar Degas’s pastels from the late 1870s and early 1880s, this scene is one of the most restrained. The removed viewpoint, the tranquil subject matter, and the sophisticated but muted palette together reinforce its quiet sensibility. From the diagonal lines of the floorboards and the reductive cylinder of the stove to the detailed rendering of the dancer’s head and hands, the composition is exquisitely executed. Degas exploited the distinct properties of pastel and chalk to indicate the transparency of the tutu, shadows cast from left to right, the glint of a bracelet, and the highlight of red hair, pulled tightly in a bun behind a headband.

For the duration of this drawing, the artist’s absorption must have equaled that of his subject. A dedication at lower right “to his friend” Edmond Duranty, a critic with whom Degas shared an intellectual sympathy, suggests a possible reason why the dancer is depicted reading what appears to be a periodical. Duranty was a major supporter of the Realists and, later, the Impressionists. His treatise “The New Painting”—a response to the Second Impressionist Exhibition in 1876—was the first serious consideration of late nineteenth-century French avant-garde painting and remains one of the most insightful. It also showcased the critic’s understanding of Degas’s work. Claiming that “the series of new ideas was formed above all in the mind of a draftsman . . . a man of the rarest talent and rarest intellect,” it was clear that Duranty had positioned Degas, without ever stating his name, at the forefront of the new movement in painting.

Leah Lehmbeck

2016/2024
Provenance: The artist, about 1880, gift to; Louis-Emile Edmond Duranty (1833–1880), Paris (sale, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, 28–29 January 1881, lot 17, to);(1) Henri Rouart (1833–1912), Paris (sale, Paris, Galerie Manzi-Joyant, 16–18 December 1912, lot 76, to);(2) Alfred Strölin (1871–1954) (sequestered sale, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, 7 July 1921, lot 42, to);(3) [Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris and M. Knoedler & Cie., Paris, sold 22 December 1921 to];(4) [Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris, sold 22 December 1921 to];(4) Joseph Early Widener (1871–1943), Philadelphia;(5) Mrs. Peter A. B. Widener, Philadelphia, by 1950;(6) Mr. and Mrs. Peter A. B. Widener III (1925–1999), Philadelphia, by 1970.(7) Mr. and Mrs. Eugene V. Klein (1921–1990), by April 1983.(8) Anonymous (sale, New York, Christie’s, 15 November 1983, lot 50, to);(9) A. J. Perenchio (1930–2017), Los Angeles, gifted 2025 to; Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Footnotes
(1) Commissaire-priseur Maurice Delestre’s official Procès-verbal for the Duranty sale records the buyer “Rouart” for this lot, for Fr 555. Boggs, Degas, p. 331, no. 215, cites Alphonse Portier buying at the sale, with Portier selling the pastel to Durand-Ruel on 12 February 1881 for Fr 200, stock no. 816. According to Durand-Ruel, that pastel is entitled Danseuse à l’éventail, and seems to have been confused with the present pastel. Durand-Ruel did not own the picture until after the Strölin sale in 1921 (document prepared by Flavie and Paul-Louis Durand-Ruel for Leah Lehmbeck, 8 December 2015).
(2) Stanislas-Henri Rouart (1833–1912), French industrialist, art collector, and amateur Impressionist painter, was Degas’s lifelong friend and supporter. In addition to this Degas, Rouart owned Degas’s At the Café-concert: The Song of the Dog, cat. 9.
(3) The J. Paul Getty Museum’s Cooper copy of Rouart auction catalogue (c. 5) is hand-annotated in ink: “37000 Strolin.” The publisher, printer, and dealer Alfred Strölin was active in Paris. However, at the outbreak of World War I, France declared Strölin, a German national, an enemy alien. As a result his stock and belongings were seized and sold later in a series of French sequestration (liquidation) sales organized by J. Zapp in 1921 and 1922 at Hôtel Drouot.
(4) M. Knoedler & Co., [New York] Painting stockbook 7: 15140–17039, 1921 January–1927 December, no. 15240, along with Durand-Ruel, Paris, stock no. 11907, showing half shares. Durand-Ruel purchased the half share back from Knoedler on 22 December 1921 and the same day sold the painting to Joseph Early Widener (document prepared by Flavie and Paul-Louis Durand-Ruel for Leah Lehmbeck, 8 December 2015).
(5) Joseph Early Widener (1871–1943) was an American art collector and founding benefactor of the National Gallery of Art.
(6) In 1950 the pastel was exhibited at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, lent by Mrs. Peter A. B. Widener. Without more detailed information it is uncertain if this is Mrs. Peter A. B. (Gertrude) Widener II, who died on 3 February 1970, or Mrs. Peter A. B. (Louise Van Meter) Widener III, who married Peter A. B. Widener III in 1947. See also note 7.

(7) According to the Philadelphia Museum of Art exhibition label on the back of the frame for their 1970 exhibition, the lender was “Mr. Peter A. B. Widener 3rd.” Peter A. B. Widener III is the grandson of Joseph Early Widener, and he likely inherited the painting from his grandfather or his father, Peter Arrell Brown Widener II (1895–1948).
(8) According to the San Diego Museum of Art exhibition label on the back of the frame, the lender was “Mr. & Mrs. Eugene V. Klein.” Eugene V. Klein, known as “Gene,” is best known in the sports field as owner of the NFL’s San Diego Chargers and his thoroughbred race horses.
(9) It is probable that the seller in this sale is Eugene V. Klein, as the painting was in his collection through at least June 1983.
Selected Bibliography: Lehmbeck, Leah, ed. Impressionist and Modern Art: The A. Jerrold Perenchio Collection. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Munich: DelMonico Books/Prestel, 2016.
The Impressionists and The Salon (1874-1886) Honoring the Centennial of the First Impressionist Exhibition: California Collections. Riverside: The Regents of the University of California, 1974.