id: 128874
accession number: 1951.483
share license status: CC0
url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1951.483
updated: 2025-04-30 11:28:28.136000
Victoria Dubourg, c. 1866. Edgar Degas (French, 1834–1917). Graphite; sheet: 30.9 x 21.9 cm (12 3/16 x 8 5/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis B. Williams Collection, 1951.483
title: Victoria Dubourg
title in original language:
series:
series in original language:
creation date: c. 1866
creation date earliest: 1861
creation date latest: 1871
current location:
creditline: Mr. and Mrs. Lewis B. Williams Collection
copyright:
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culture: France, 19th century
technique: graphite
department: Drawings
collection: DR - French
type: Drawing
find spot:
catalogue raisonne:
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CREATORS
* Edgar Degas (French, 1834–1917) - artist
Son of a Parisian banker, Edgar Degas enrolled in law school in 1853 following his father's wishes. But he had already shown an interest in art and had also registered to copy at the Louvre. In 1855 he entered the École des Beaux-Arts and became a student of Louis Lamothe (1822-1869), a former pupil of Ingres (q.v.). One year later Degas made the traditional journey to Italy, remaining there for three years. He visited family members in Naples and Florence and attended life classes at the Villa Medici in Rome. A visit to Normandy in 1861 may have introduced him to the racetrack. In Paris he continued to study at the Louvre, where he met Manet (q.v.) in 1862. Apart from his continuous interest in portraiture and history painting, Degas began to pay attention to subjects of modern life. Between 1865 and 1870, he exhibited at the Salon. At the time of the Franco-Prussian War, he enlisted in the artillery, but because of his poor eyesight he served (with Manet) in the infantry. After the war he traveled first to London and, in 1872-73, visited his uncle and brothers who had a cotton business in New Orleans. Degas participated in the first impressionist exhibition of 1874. He continued to exhibit with these artists until 1886 but never completely considered himself a member of the group, preferring to call himself a realist or naturalist. While many of the impressionists painted en plein air, Degas worked with models in his studio and, later in his career, from his imagination. In addition to painting, he experimented often with monotypes, engraving, pastels, sculpture, and photography. He traveled extensively-London, Naples, Spain, Morocco, and Switzerland-but continued to draw his subject matter from modern-day Paris. Other recurring themes would be the female nude and the ballet dancer. After the impressionist exhibition of 1886, Degas no longer participated in group shows. Instead he sold his works to private dealers such as Durand-Ruel and Ambroise Vollard. In the 1890s he began his own art collection, which, besides many works on paper, included paintings by such artists as Ingres, Cézanne (q.v.), Delacroix (q.v.), Gauguin (q.v.), and van Gogh (q.v.). His own art at the time became characterized by broader strokes of paint, charcoal, and pastel and the use of more vibrant colors, partly because of problems with his vision. His failing eyesight and poor health caused him to abandon his pursuit of art during the last years of his life.
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measurements: Sheet: 30.9 x 21.9 cm (12 3/16 x 8 5/8 in.)
state of the work:
edition of the work:
support materials:
description: off-white wove paper
watermarks:
inscriptions:
inscription: verso, upper right, in blue crayon: Ph 1756 [underlined]
translation:
remark:
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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS
title: The Nineteenth Century: One Hundred Twenty-Five Master Drawings
opening date: 1962-03-26T05:00:00
The Nineteenth Century: One Hundred Twenty-Five Master Drawings. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY (March 26-April 23, 1962).
title: Nineteenth Century: 125 Master Drawings
opening date: 1962-03-26T05:00:00
Nineteenth Century: 125 Master Drawings. Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis, MN (organizer) (March 26-April 23, 1962); Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY (May 10-June 30, 1962).
title: The Nineteenth Century: One Hundred Twenty-Five Master Drawings
opening date: 1962-03-26T05:00:00
The Nineteenth Century: One Hundred Twenty-Five Master Drawings. Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis, MN (organizer) (May 15-July 1, 1962).
title: Drawings
opening date: 1963-01-11T05:00:00
Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 11-September 10, 1963).
title: Juxtapositions
opening date: 1965-09-11T04:00:00
Juxtapositions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (September 11-October 10, 1965).
title: The Impressionist Aesthetic
opening date: 1982-08-10T04:00:00
The Impressionist Aesthetic. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 10-October 31, 1982).
title: National Schools of Style
opening date: 1983-06-14T04:00:00
National Schools of Style. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 14-September 18, 1983).
title: The Private Degas
opening date: 1987-01-20T05:00:00
The Private Degas. Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (January 20-February 28, 1987); Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge CB2 1RB (March 17-May 3, 1987).
title: Directions in Drawing II: The Human Figure
opening date: 1991-11-05T05:00:00
Directions in Drawing II: The Human Figure. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 5, 1991-January 12, 1992).
title: French Drawings from the Collection
opening date: 1994-12-13T05:00:00
French Drawings from the Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 13, 1994-March 12, 1995).
title: Monet to Dalí: Modern Masters from the Cleveland Museum of Art
opening date: 2006-05-27T00:00:00
Monet to Dalí: Modern Masters from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Seoul Art Center, South Korea (December 22, 2006-March 28, 2007); Seoul Olympic Museum of Art, South Korea (April 7-May 20, 2007).
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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS
* {'description': 'The Private Degas. Whitworth Art Gallery, University of Manchester (January 17 - February 28, 1987); Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge (March 14 - May 3, 1987).', 'opening_date': '1987-01-17T00:00:00'}
* {'description': 'Works by Edgar Degas. Cleveland Museum of Art (February 5 - March 9, 1947).', 'opening_date': '1947-02-05T00:00:00'}
* {'description': 'French Drawings and Water Colors, Supplement to The Painting of France Since the Revolution. M. H. De Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco (Summer 1941).', 'opening_date': '1941-01-01T00:00:00'}
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PROVENANCE
Estate of Edgar Degas [1834-1917], Paris
date: c. 1866-1918
footnotes:
citations:
(Galerie Georges Petit, second Degas sale, Paris, December 11-13, 1918, no. 238, 2nd part)
date: 1918
footnotes:
citations:
Mme. Alice Weiller [1869-1943], Paris, by descent to Paul-Louis Weiller, Geneva
date: after 1918-by 1941
footnotes:
citations:
Paul-Louis Weiller [1883-1993], Geneva
date: by 1941-before 1951
footnotes:
citations:
Mr. and Mrs. Lewis B. Williams, Cleveland, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
date: by 1947-1951
footnotes:
citations:
Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
date: 1951-
footnotes:
citations:
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fun fact:
digital description:
wall description:
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RELATED WORKS
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CITATIONS
Catalogue des tableaux, pastels, et dessins par Edgar Degas et provenant de son atelier...2e vente. Paris: Georges Petit, 1918.
page number: Mentioned and reproduced: p. 39, no. 238 (2nd part of lot, as Buste de femme)
url:
Lemoisne, P. A. Degas et son oeuvre. Paris: Brame and De Hauke, 1946).
page number: Mentioned: p. 68, under no. 137
url:
French Drawings and Water Colors, Supplement to The Painting of France Since the French Revolution. Exh. Cat. San Francisco: M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, 1941.
page number: Mentioned: p. 6, no. 217
url:
Francis, Henry Sayles. Works by Edgar Degas. Exh. Cat. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1947.
page number: Mentioned: p. 19, no. 57; Reproduced: pl. XLVIII
url:
Coe, Nancy. "The History of the Collecting of European Paintings and Drawings in the City of Cleveland." MA Thesis. Oberlin College, 1955.
page number: Mentioned: vol. II, p. 258, no. 9
url:
Francis, Henry. "Drawings by Degas." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 44, no. 10 (December 1957): 212-217.
page number: Mentioned: p. 215; Reproduced: p. 214
url: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25142248
Eitner, Lorenz. The Nineteenth Century: One Hundred Twenty-Five Master Drawings. Exh. Cat. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 1962.
page number: Mentioned: no. 27; Reproduced: pl. 33
url:
The Toledo Museum of Art: European Paintings. Toledo: Toledo Museum of Art, 1976.
page number: Mentioned: p. 52
url:
Thomson, Richard. The Private Degas. Exh. Cat. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1987.
page number: Mentioned: p. 17, 139, no. 30; Reproduced: p. 21
url:
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IMAGES
web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1951.483/1951.483_web.jpg
print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1951.483/1951.483_print.jpg
full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1951.483/1951.483_full.tif