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Edgar Degas 1834-1917.. Sept. 4-26, 1948.. High Museum of Art.. Degas and America: The Early Collectors. When the Muse du Louvre failed in its effort to acquire the first bronze set of Degass sculpturethe set marked "A"Mrs. Havemeyer, advised by her influential friend the American painter Mary Cassatt, succeeded in buying it, during its premier exhibition at the Galerie A. Web Feature
Paul Valry.. Degas, Danse, Dessin.. Paris: Gallimard.. 1938.. Art Object Page - National Gallery of Art The foyer de la dance, the backroom of the Paris Opera Ballet, functioned not only as a socializing space and place for rehearsals but as an elite brothel for art patrons. Hilaire-Germain-Edgar Degas, Little Dancer Aged Fourteen, modeled 187981, cast 191921, bronze with gauze tutu and silk ribbon, on wooden base. As part of the Met's Open Access policy, you can freely copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes. It is dressed in a real bodice, tutu and ballet slippers and has a wig of real hair. . The Evolution of Degas's Little Dancer In 1997, the Airaindor-Valsuani foundry in France began casting a limited edition of Degas bronzes from the pre-1903 Little Dancer plaster. Since the gelatin molds were damaged in the process, these first bronzes retain details lost in subsequent casts. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1992. Paul Fierens.. "Il Contributo dei Pittori alla Scultura Francese." In 1882, she was dismissed from the Paris Opera Ballet, by some accounts, for being late to rehearsals, and by others, for engaging in sex work outside of the institution. Inv. The subjectsdancers, women bathing, and horsesalso feature in his paintings, but the sculptural studies are not preparatory for specific oil canvases as much as they are independent explorations of three-dimensional form. Abraham Foundation, which, at times, is lent to other institutions and museums including the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The petits rats were easily discarded and thrown out of the Paris Opera Ballet for every small disobedience. Glenn Petersen, Conservator, Costume Institute, and Linda Borsch, Conservator, Department of Objects Conservation. Apart from prostitution, many of them were involved in small crimes such as pickpocketing, just to make ends meet. Later on, with Charles Darwin publishing his work On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life in 1859, the connection between animal and human in the public mind became fixed and stable. After Degas' death, his heirs (brother and sister's children[7]) made the decision to have the bronze repetitions of La Petite Danseuse and other wax and mixed-media sculptures cast. Fourteen-Year Old Dancer | An Introduction to 19th Century Art Partially tinted bronze, cotton tarlatan, silk satin, and wood. Degas visualized this potential link with vice by flattening the models facial features, exaggerating the low forehead, and making the jaw protrude, adjustments that conformed to popular scientific notions that linked physiognomy and degeneracy. Another curious fact is that Marie van Goethem was in fact an associate of the abovementioned murderer Emile Abadie, also a subject of Degas work, who apparently was in a relationship with Maries sister. In The Wind-Up Toy Prince, the little dancer of fourteen years was used to do the secret ballet dance to open the door of the mouse king's castle by doing pile, saute, and lastly battement. This artwork is meant to be viewed from right to left. Edgar Degas, Study in the Nude of Little Dancer Aged Fourteen (Nude Little Dancer), c. 1878-1881, Edgar Degas, Study in the Nude of Little Dancer Aged Fourteen (Nude Little Dancer), original wax c. 1878-1881, cast 1920/1926, Edgar Degas, Self-Portrait with White Collar, c. 1857, oil on paper on canvas, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1995.47.7. The Little Dancer, sculpted in beeswax (left) and cast in bronze (right) Some of our partners may process your data as a part of their legitimate business interest without asking for consent. Go behind the scenes with iconic Met objects and see what happens when science meets art. The artist frequented the Opra, making endless studies of dancers in motion and at rest. New York: Faber & Faber, [1949]. One copy of La Petite Danseuse is currently owned by the creator and owner of Auto Trader, John Madejski. [7] Some of the statues power comes from the rigid frontality of the pose, a reference to ancient Egyptian statuary that was recognized by the artists contemporaries. As he worked on the large version, Degas also modeled a smaller nude study in wax, experimenting with the dancers stance and posture, head and arm positions. Many ancient scholars and philosophers were looking for the similarities between human and natural worlds, and the reflections of these worlds on one another. Degass sketches of Marie indicate his intense concentration on her form. Right: Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer, 1922 (bronze cast); 2018 (tutu). His sculptural work was largely private and exploratory, and he only ever exhibited one piece: the National Gallery of Arts original wax version of Little Dancer Aged Fourteen (18781881). [3] Degas decided to make the sculpture of tinted wax with real cloth, tulle, and ribbon, and the result reminded many viewers of the displays in Madame Tussauds wax museum in London. Little Dancer of Fourteen Years explained The Equestrian statue of Bartolomeo Colleoni by the Italian sculptor Andrea del Verrocchio is a perfect illustration of such an approach. The relationship between van Goethem and Degas is uncertain. . The subject is a young dance student named Marie van Goethem. Jean Leymarie.. Les Degas du Louvre.. Paris: Librairie des Arts Dcoratifs.. 1947.. He drew her from every angle, circling around her to capture each look and gesture. Already disturbing by modern standards, Lombrosos theories went even further, proclaiming non-Western people, in particular those of African and Asian origin, as beings of lower stage of biological development than white people, and thus being much more prone to criminal behaviors. A longtime friend of Degas, sculptor Paul-Albert Bartholom, helped select and repair seventy-two of these for a limited-edition series of bronzes. La Petite Danseuse de Quatorze Ans) is a sculpture by Edgar Degas depicting a student of the Paris Opera Ballet dance school, a Belgian named Marie van Goethem. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1959. New York: Hudson Hills Press, 1996. Young girls like the one depicted by Edgar Degas, who just started their training, were called petits rats and treated inhumanely. (98.9 x 34.7 x 35.2 cm); weight: 49 lb. Paul Lefond, Degas biographer, described the Little Dancer wax after Degas death as "nothing but a ruin;"[14] and Mary Cassatt telegraphed Mrs. Havemeyer "Statue Bad Condition. Understanding Art. Most of these original sculptures are now in the National Gallery of Arts collection, while bronze casts made from these wax originals after Degas death can be found around the world. Little Dancer of Fourteen Years ( French: La Petite Danseuse de Quatorze Ans) (1881) is a statue by Edgar Degas. Little Dancer of Fourteen Years by Edgar Degas - The History of Art Manage Settings Enter and exit from 7th Street, Constitution Avenue, or Madison Drive. Sculpture Garden . Polley, Robert L., ed. Edgar Degas, Little Dancer Aged Fourteen, 1878-1881 Edgar Degas | The Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer | French, Paris | The Anonymous. . The rats, including the model for this figure, mostly came from working-class families and were popularly understood to be vulnerable to moral corruption at the hands of well-off suitors. height 16in. The work measures 81 inches in height. The figures awkward limbs and inscrutable expression seemed at odds with the traditional image of the elegant ballerina. Little Dancer Aged Fourteen, 1878-1881 pigmented beeswax, clay, metal armature, rope, paintbrushes, human hair, silk and linen ribbon, cotton and silk tutu, linen slippers, on wooden base overall without base: 98.9 x 34.7 x 35.2 cm (38 15/16 x 13 11/16 x 13 7/8 in.) Degas uncannily realistic depiction of an opera rat, as young dancers with the Paris Opera ballet were known, was a deeply unsettling challenge both to academic tradition and to French bourgeois society. The Madison Drive entrance is currently closed. The wealthy and adventurous collector's interest in Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer dates to her first glimpse of the wax model for it on view in 1881 at the Paris Salon. The stark realism of Degas treatment caused the girls facial features to be caricatured by critics at the time as monkey-like., Study Room for Prints, Drawings, and Photographs. [citation needed], Learn how and when to remove this template message, "Degas's Little Dancer is still on the point of controversy", "Degas Ballerina Fails to Sell at Christie's as Markets Plummet", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Little_Dancer_of_Fourteen_Years&oldid=1163262758, This page was last edited on 3 July 2023, at 21:39. Claretie 1881, p. 3; cited by Richard Kendall in Degas and the Little Dancer 1998, p. 70.5. Understanding Art, 6th ed.. Fort Worth (TX): Harcourt College Publishers. They thought it was ugly. . Given that, we can assume that the public hostile reaction was a result of the artists deliberate effort. The wax was tinted to resemble flesh, she wore a wig of real hair, and was dressed in . Art Digest, 24.. (Dec. 1, 1949).. [13] Degas never sold the sculpture to Mrs. Havemeyer. They were not simply expressing their own disgust, but indicating the animalistic, or primitive features of the girl. She had been working another job, even two, because the few pennies the Opera paid weren't enough to keep her and her family fed. To make his intentions even clearer, Degas specifically decided to present the sculpture in a room with his other drawings of criminals, emphasizing their animalistic and degenerate facial features. [2] Yet the only one he ever exhibited in public was the wax version of Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer (National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.). It is widely regarded as one of the most realistic and expressive sculptures of the late 19th century, and an icon of French art. Art News 49, no, 4 (Summer 1950): 2831. 4th St and Constitution Ave NW Art News, 43.. (Oct. 15, 1944).. Edgar Degas (French, 1834-1917) French . After the artists death, in 1917, his heirs engaged the Hbrard foundry to cast bronzes of seventy-two of the waxes that survived in Degass studio (Little Dancer, the seventy-third, was cast separately). It forced viewers to confront the seamy side of the ballet, the cultural institution at the center of metropolitan life. Self-taught in sculpture, Degas made numerous wax models on wire armatures. The Met's bronze cast of Degas's Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer has captivated generations of visitors since it was acquired in the bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer in 1929, but many admirers may not be familiar with the material transformation of the sculpturefrom wax to bronze and through a series of custom-fitted skirtssince Degas exhibited. He covered it with wax. The eldest son of a Parisian banker, Edgar Degas reinforced his formal academic art training by copying old master paintings both in Italy, where he spent three years (18561859), and at the Louvre. The work measures 81 inches in height. Coming from poor backgrounds, unable to stand up for themselves, they were subject not only to hours of exhausting rehearsals but to all kinds of exploitation as well. Degas exhibited it inside a glass case. What was the truth behind the depiction of a mischievous little ballerina and what had criminology to do with it? All rights reserved. The casting took place at the Hbrard foundry in Paris from 1920 until 1936 when the Hbrard foundry went bankrupt and closed. The Little Dancer of 14 Years is an art that was used to open the door. Trans. Read the additional visitor guidelines. Photo: Jean-Gilles Berizzi. In the bronze, his model has adopted a classic ballet stance, with her right leg advanced and turned. National Gallery of Art . Hbrards chief bronze founder, Albino Palazzolo, used the wax sculpture to create two plaster models (now in the Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska, and National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.), and they served as the basis for twenty-nine known bronzes, most of which were produced between 1922 and 1937. Edgar Degas (French, Paris 18341917 Paris), Illustrated by Edgar Degas (French, Paris 18341917 Paris). Princeton University Press. His focus on urban subjects, artificial light, and careful drawing distinguished him from other impressionists, such as Claude Monet, who worked outdoors, painting directly from their subjects. The Little Dancer Of Fourteen Years: A Sculpture By Edgar Degas Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1955. Of seventy-three bronzes by Hbrard, all save numbers 19 and 41 entered our collection. Edgar Degas, Before the Ballet, 1890/1892, Edgar Degas, Dancers Backstage, 1876/1883, Edgar Degas, Three Dancers Resting, c. 1880, Edgar Degas, Dancer Seen from Behind and Three Studies of Feet, c. 1878. The original wax sculpture was acquired by Paul Mellon in 1956. (22.226 kg) In The Wind-Up Toy Prince, the little dancer of fourteen years was used to do the secret ballet dance to open the door of the mouse king's castle by doing pile, saute, and lastly battement. At some point before Degas extensively reworked his sculpture, he allowed a plaster to be cast from the wax figure. Brooks, John H. Highlights: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. The original wax version, a portrait of a young Belgian dancer named Marie van Goethem, was shown at the 1881 Impressionist exhibition in Paris. Episode Appearance The Wind-Up Toy Prince Trivia This art is used in the feet music video in Baby da Vinci Gallery Allusions v - e - d Categories The National Gallery of Art serves the nation by welcoming all people to explore and experience art, creativity, and our shared humanity. Millard 1976.3. The sculpture is one-third life size and was originally sculpted in wax, a somewhat unusual choice of medium for the time. Degas in the Clark Collection. These statues posthumous Degas bronzes can be seen in many museums. 73.7. 7th St and Constitution Ave NW His first independent works were portraits and history paintings but in the early 1860s he began to paint scenes from modern life. Degas and the Little Dancer. In Degas studio, fictional Marie van Goethem remembers her teenage years and her meeting with the artist. Another famous work of art is a sculpture called Little Dancer of Fourteen Years made by French Edgar Degas in 1881 in Paris. At the same time, its realism shocked viewers. Edgar Degas' Study in the Nude of Little Dancer Aged Fourteen (Nude Little Dancer), c. 1878-1881 is the subject of a new show at the Kennedy Center starring Tiler Peck. H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929, Accession Number:
[2] It was common in 1880 for the "Petits Rats" of the Paris Opera to seek protectors from among the wealthy visitors at the back door of the opera. December 11, 2018 at 8:00 a.m. EST. Partially tinted bronze, cotton tarlatan, silk satin, and wood, Overall (confirmed): H. 38 1/2 x W. 17 1/4 x D. 14 3/8 in. . The Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer (French: La Petite Danseuse de Quatorze Ans) is a sculpture begun c. 1880 by Edgar Degas of a young student of the Paris Opera Ballet dance school, a Belgian named Marie van Goethem . weight: 49 lb. Fernandez, Rafael, and Alexandra R. Murphy. Little Dancer of Fourteen Years - Simple English Wikipedia, the free 29.100.370. In addition to Little Dancer, many of the artist's wax, clay, and plastilene sculptures were discovered in damaged or fragmentary condition in his studio. Whoever he is, he is modern to his finger tips and as ancient as the pyramids!" . The Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer (French: La Petite Danseuse de Quatorze Ans) is a sculpture begun c. 1880 by Edgar Degas of a young student of the Paris Opera Ballet dance school, a Belgian named Marie van Goethem. RF 4646. The sculpture was not so warmly received when she first appeared. Despite his long and fruitful association with the impressionists, Degas preferred to be called a realist. Use your arrow keys to navigate the tabs below, and your tab key to choose an item, Title:
. Sylvia Shipley.. "Bronze and Tulle.". The Met's Libraries and Research Centers provide unparalleled resources for research and welcome an international community of students and scholars. It is Degas' reworked second version of his wax figure. : fluffiness of skirt skews measurement], Classification:
Her face is "contorted, people thought it was a deliberate image of ugliness, but you could also say it's the image of a sickly gawky adolescent who is being made to do something she doesn't totally want to do."[5]. [Degas] became the hero of the hour. The work was started in c. 1880, first made by Degas in a reddish-brown wax in which the girl was sculpted nude. If you look closely at The Met's Little Dancer, you will see details of the original faithfully replicated in bronze, from the texture of the wax-covered hair and bodice to flaws like the crack in the dancer's left arm, which was later corrected in the original version. While the Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer was the only sculpture Degas exhibited during his lifetime, he made more than one hundred wax sculptures of dancers, bathing women, and horses and jockeys. 11637, no. Whilst everyone was well aware of his charcoal drawings, pastels and oil paintings, the sculpture that you find here was the only one that he ever exhibited. East Building 1922 (cast), 2018 (tutu), Culture:
During the Renaissance, the supposed similarities between human and animal traits were used as visual codes in paintings and sculpture, especially when it came to portraying the nobility. The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs 89, no. Sale Outcome . In March 2019 a reworked version of the musical, now called Marie, Dancing Still premiered at the 5th Avenue Theater in Seattle. [3][4], The arms are taut, and the legs and feet are placed in a ballet position akin to fourth position at rest, and there is tension in the pose, an image of a ballerina being put through her paces, not posing in an angelic way. Curators at The Met have replaced the fabric skirt at least three times in the past to address either its deterioration or their dissatisfaction with its appearance. [11], To construct the statue, Degas used pigmented beeswax, with a metal armature, rope, and paintbrushes covered by clay for structural support. Magazine of Art, 32.. (Feb. 1939).. Cat. Degas's original sculpture (above, left) was made of unorthodox materials: tinted beeswax skin, a human-hair wig, a cotton bodice, linen ballet slippers, and tarlatan tutu. Little dancer of fourteen years. It seems that Little Dancer Aged Fourteen was not just a portrait of one of the unlucky petit rats from the Paris Opera Ballet, but a glimpse into the world of crime and an illustration for popular scientific theories of the time. 15.4. Enter or exit from Constitution Avenue, 4th Street, or 7th Street. Edgar Degas Little Dancer of Fourteen Years shocked the public. 4th St and Constitution Ave NW This art is used in the feet music video in Baby da Vinci. . A. Hbrard (Paris), Date:
20002023 The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Sadly, I had to quit when I was fourteen because my parents could no longer afford classes. Gardner, Albert Ten Eyck. When using images, please reproduce caption and credit information. The Mystery of 'The Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer' The most famous one, Criminal Physiognomies (1881), was an illustration made during a murder trial. A Complete Catalogue by John Rewald." It is unknown how real Marie van Goethem looked like and whether Edgar Degas enhanced some of her facial features to better fit his ideas. His novel use of unorthodox materialshair, silk hair ribbon, linen bodice, muslin tutu, and satin slippersunderscored his determination to make naturalism rather than idealization the standard for modern sculptural practice. 108. Baltimore Museum of Art News, 5.. (May 1943).. "Baltimore Museum Buys Degas Dancer in Bronze". [5] Longafterward, she continued to be smitten by the wax model and attempted to buy it in 1903. TIFF images are suitable for publication purposes.
Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1970. She was fired after several years of intense labor; the director had had enough of her repeated absences. Bretell, Richard R. with Natalie H. Lee. Beginning in 1919, Hbrard set out to make 22 casts of each sculpture; some series were not finished, but the foundry cast at least 25 copies of the Little Dancer. For Lombroso, criminals simply belonged to an earlier stage of human development. Monday, July 31, 2023 At four years old I saw my first ballet, Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker, and I immediately fell in love with dance. In the 1950s Paul Mellon (19071999), a benefactor of the National Gallery of Art, bought the 69 known surviving sculptures that Degas had created during his lifetime (several were destroyed in the casting process). Little Dancer Aged Fourteen by Camille Laurens review - The Washington Post Jacques-Emile Blanche.. Propos de peintre: de David Degas.. Paris: n.p.. 1919.. Marie van Goethem, who was eleven and not fourteen by the time Degas first met her, came from a humble background. Why Did Edgar Degas' Little Dancer Cause Such a Scandal? - TheCollector . New Haven: Yale University Press; Omaha: Joslyn Museum of Art, 1998. The Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer, Artist:
After Degas died, it was found in a corner of his studio. SUBSCRIBERS ONLY *Display of realized prices is dependent on your plan Sale Outcome. Partially tinted bronze, cotton tarlatan, silk satin, and wood, Dimensions:
Art News Annual, 19.. (1949).. Goudy, Alice M. "Four Collectors in Philadelphia." We are closed on December 25 and January 1. The Clark: Selections from the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Many of his paintings were about ballet dancers, and this statue is of a young girl who was a ballet student in Paris. Enter and exit from 7th Street, Constitution Avenue, or Madison Drive. Celebrate the 150th anniversary with special events and projects all year long. A. Hbrard , (in 1922; sold to Havemeyer) ; Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer , New York (1922d. K. Parkes.. "Racehorses and Ballet Dancers: The Gronzes of Degas.". [17] Like the various states of many of Degas' prints, the Valsuani bronzes record the first version of Degas' Little Dancer, while the Hbrard casts record the second and final state of the sculpture. Her stance atop a wooden base reminiscent of a rehearsal floor is casual by ballet standards, but far from relaxed. Degas' creation would immediately make it into the Sixth Impressionist Exhibition of 1881 and would remain his only exhibited sculpture. The True Story of the Little Ballerina Who Influenced Degas' "Little Another feature of a born criminal was its similarity to a rat, with a chin too small and sharp incisor teeth. weight: 49 lb. Degas saw his sculpture as a form of personal expression, without having any real desire to exhibit or promote his work within this movement. In 2014 the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. staged a musical Little Dancer, loosely based on the story of Van Goethem. Del Verrocchio deliberately made his subjects head look similar to the one of an eagle to indicate Colleonis nobility and mercilessness. John Rewald.. "Degas Dancers and Horses.". The tutus worn by the bronzes vary from museum to museum. It was completed towards the end of the 19th century. The two were indeed friends in real life, although their relationship was strained in later years due to Degas overt antisemitism. Description 7th St and Constitution Ave NW It received mixed reviews. Little Dancer of Fourteen Years (colour) - MyMiniFactory The Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer (French: La Petite Danseuse de Quatorze Ans) is a c. 1881 sculpture by Edgar Degas of a young student of the Paris Opera Ballet dance school, a Belgian named Marie van Goethem. The 28 bronze repetitions that appear in museums and galleries around the world today were cast after Degas' death. That was, unfortunately, the fate of hundreds of petit rats, who never managed to achieve their dreams and goals. Thus, Degas decided to depict not a mischievous teenage ballerina, but a born criminal. 8, Modern Europe, Masterpieces of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Like Life: Sculpture, Color, and the Body, The Janice H. Levin Collection of French Art, European Sculpture, 14001900, in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Art = Discovering Infinite Connections in Art History, Study in the Nude for The Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer, Huit Sonnets. Marie, Dancing Still (musical) - Wikipedia There, the dancers had to endure harassment and frequently engage in sex work in order to provide for themselves and get a chance to climb up the social ladder. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1997. French, Paris, Medium:
Little Dancer Aged Fourteen by Edgar Degas, 1880-1, cast c. 1922, via Tate, London Although as human beings we are used to admiring sculptural portraits (especially those of kids), in this case, it is hard to shake off the feeling of something being fundamentally wrong here. She specializes in topics of early abstract art, nineteenth-century gender, spiritualism and occultism. One critic, Paul Mantz, called her the "flower of precocious depravity," with a face "marked by the hateful promise of every vice" and "bearing the signs of a profoundly heinous character. . Clark Art Institute, 1955.45. Little Dancer of Fourteen Years - Saint Louis Art Museum Art News 76, no. Who has achieved this wonderful creation? Your browser may not provide an optimal user experience. When the La Petite Danseuse de Quatorze Ans was shown in Paris at the Sixth Impressionist Exhibition of 1881, it received mixed reviews. Edgar Degas (French, 1834 - 1917), Teaching Resource
Great Art Treasures in America's Smaller Museums. Browse, Lillian. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1995. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1994. The final work is an impressive 98cm tall and Degas original French title for it was La Petite Danseuse de Quatorze Ans. It is on display at the Louvre Museum in Paris. The sordid truth behind Degas's ballet dancers | CNN She was a model, posing for painters or sculptorsamong them Edgar . Degas early on developed a rigorous drawing style and a respect for line that he would maintain throughout his career. The largest of the wax models, the Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer was also cast in multiples. This recently re-discovered plaster records the Little Dancers original pose, bodice, and hairdo. The daughter of a laundress and a tailor from Belgium who had moved to France, Marie was a ballet studentone of the so-called "ratsat the Paris Opera. This is why bronze versions of Little Dancer and other Degas sculptures are now found in many collections internationally. . Apollo, 12.. Dec. 1930.. Little Dancer Aged Fourteen Edgar Degas 1878-1881 National Gallery of Art, Washington DC Washington, DC, United States Details Title: Little Dancer Aged Fourteen Creator: Edgar Degas Date.