{
"data": {
"id": 163547,
"accession_number": "2004.87",
"share_license_status": "CC0",
"tombstone": "Self-Portrait, 1857. Edgar Degas (French, 1834\u20131917). Etching and drypoint; platemark: 23 x 14.5 cm (9 1/16 x 5 11/16 in.); sheet: 31.5 x 22.6 cm (12 3/8 x 8 7/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund, 2004.87",
"current_location": null,
"title": "Self-Portrait",
"creation_date": "1857",
"creation_date_earliest": 1857,
"creation_date_latest": 1857,
"artists_tags": [
"male"
],
"culture": [
"France, 19th century"
],
"technique": "etching and drypoint",
"support_materials": [
{
"description": "laid paper",
"watermarks": []
}
],
"department": "Prints",
"collection": "PR - Etching",
"type": "Print",
"measurements": "Platemark: 23 x 14.5 cm (9 1/16 x 5 11/16 in.); Sheet: 31.5 x 22.6 cm (12 3/8 x 8 7/8 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"sheet": {
"height": 0.315,
"height_inch": 12,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.375,
"width": 0.226,
"width_inch": 8,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.875
},
"platemark": {
"height": 0.23,
"height_inch": 9,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.0625,
"width": 0.145,
"width_inch": 5,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.6875
}
},
"state_of_the_work": "III/IV",
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [
{
"inscription": "inscribed at lower left, in lithographic crayon: \u00e1 Bartholom\u00e9 / Degas",
"inscription_translation": null,
"inscription_remark": null,
"sortorder": null
}
],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [
{
"id": 218915,
"title": "L'Impressionnisme vu d'Am\u00e9rique",
"description": "L'Impressionnisme vu d'Am\u00e9rique. Mus\u00e9e Fabre, Montpellier, France (organizer) (June 9-September 9, 2007); Mus\u00e9e de Grenoble, Grenoble, France (October 6, 2007-January 20, 2008).",
"opening_date": "2007-06-09T00:00:00"
},
{
"id": 204986,
"title": "Treasures on Paper from the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art",
"description": "Treasures on Paper from the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 9-June 8, 2014).",
"opening_date": "2014-03-09T00:00:00"
},
{
"id": 295882,
"title": "Innovative Impressions: Cassatt, Degas, and Pissarro as Painter-Printmakers",
"description": "Innovative Impressions: Cassatt, Degas, and Pissarro as Painter-Printmakers. Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, OK (organizer) (June 9-September 9, 2018).",
"opening_date": "2018-06-09T04:00:00"
}
],
"legacy": []
},
"provenance": [
{
"description": "Paul-Albert Bartholom\u00e9",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": null,
"sortorder": 1
},
{
"description": "(Cesar M. de Hauke)",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": "?-?",
"sortorder": 2
},
{
"description": "Kimbell Art Foundation, Fort Worth, TX",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": "?-?",
"sortorder": 3
},
{
"description": "(sale, Sotheby's, New York, May 13, 1987, sold to Robert Light)",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": "1987",
"sortorder": 4
},
{
"description": "(Samuel Josefowitz, Lausanne, Switzerland, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH)",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": "after 1987-by 2004",
"sortorder": 5
},
{
"description": "Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "2004-",
"sortorder": 6
}
],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [],
"did_you_know": "This early self-portrait is especially rare among Edgar Degas's prints, and few impressions are known to exist.",
"early_education_description": null,
"artlens_description": null,
"description": "In the 1850s Degas frequently used himself as a model, but he made only one printed self-portrait. Through successive stages of biting the plate and layers of crosshatching, Degas gradually built areas of dark tone. In this impression, Degas added etched lines on the face, hat, and coat and carefully wiped his copper plate to create atmospheric effects. His clearly drawn eyes directly engage the viewer, resulting in a psychologically powerful and intense portrait of the young artist at age 23. This impression was dedicated to his friend, the painter and sculptor Paul Albert Bartholom\u00e9.",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q60781142"
],
"internet_archive": [
"https://archive.org/details/clevelandart-2004.87-self-portrait"
]
},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "\"Major Acquisitions 2000-2005.\" Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 45, no. 6 (July/August 2005): 6-19.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: p. 15",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAMM2005-06/page/14/mode/2up"
},
{
"citation": "Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: P. 354",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Lees, Sarah, and Richard R. Brettell. Innovative Impressions: Prints by Cassatt, Degas, and Pissarro. Tulsa, Oklahoma : Philbrook Museum of Art, 2018",
"page_number": "Reproduced and mentioned: p. 23, fig. 18",
"url": null
}
],
"catalogue_raisonne": "Reed and Shapiro 8",
"url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/2004.87",
"images": {
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"print": {
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"date_created": "2004-08-24T18:53:34",
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],
"creditline": "John L. Severance Fund",
"image_credit": null,
"sketchfab_id": null,
"sketchfab_url": null,
"gallery_donor_text": null,
"athena_id": 163547,
"creators": [
{
"id": 1759,
"description": "Edgar Degas (French, 1834\u20131917)",
"extent": null,
"qualifier": null,
"role": "artist",
"biography": "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 \u00c9cole 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, C\u00e9zanne (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.",
"name_in_original_language": null,
"birth_year": "1834",
"death_year": "1917",
"use_in_caption": true,
"include_extent": false,
"weight": 1
}
],
"legal_status": "accessioned",
"accession_date": "2004-12-06T00:00:00",
"sortable_date": 1857,
"date_added_to_oa": null,
"date_text": "1857",
"collapse_artists": false,
"on_loan": false,
"recently_acquired": false,
"record_type": "object",
"conservation_statement": null,
"has_conservation_images": false,
"cover_accession_number": null,
"is_nazi_era_provenance": false,
"impression": null,
"alternate_titles": [],
"is_highlight": true,
"updated_at": "2026-05-29 08:29:43.180000"
}
}