THE COMPLETE COLLECTION OF EDGAR DEGAS SCULPTURES

Herakleidon Museum hosted the exhibition entitled “The Complete Collection of Edgar Degas Sculptures” The exhibition presented all the seventy-four bronze sculptures featuring the “Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer”. This collection belongs to M.T. Abraham Center for the Visual Arts, which kindly lent it to Herakleidon Museum for the purposes of the exhibition.

All the sculptures are cast from recently discovered plaster casts. Which were made from Degas original wax figures during his lifetime and with his consent. This is remarkable given that all the other bronze sculptures one sees today in museums and elsewhere were cast in bronze from models made after the artist’s death. Therefore, the bronze sculptures in this exhibition can be considered as the original versions and all others as second versions of these sculptures. Thus, for the first time it will be possible for connoisseurs, scholars and the general public to compare the artist’s bronze sculptures in their before and after states, an event almost unparalleled in the history of Art. At the same time, the exhibition also host Edgar Degas’s drawings “Horses and Riders” (1872, pencil on paper, from George Oikonomou Collection, Athens).

Herakleidon Museum has been chosen as the organizer of the exhibition, with the city of Athens to be its first stop, gathering the worldwide interest, since it is the first time that all of Degas’ sculptures have been exhibited in Greece, but also the first time these seventy-four admirable bronze sculptures have been exhibited together. Next stop of the exhibition is the National Gallery of Sofia (September 2010).  

 As part of the exhibition, a series of events took place in the auditorium of the French institute of Athens: On January 11, a concert of the theme of the Impressionist era, in collaboration with the Athens Chamber Opera. On February 8, speech by the sculptor Anna Moschona-Kalamara, president of the art chamber, on the subject of the work of Edgar Degas. In addition, on March 8, a speech by the art Historian Irini Orati, curator of the Alpha Bank collection, on the topic of “Woman Art”.

Edgar Degas

Edgar Degas (19 July 1834- 27 September 1917), full name Hilaire-Germain-Edgar de Gas, was a French artist, famous for his work in painting, sculpture, engraving and drawing. He is considered as one of the founders of the Impressionism, although he rejected this title and preferred to be called a realist. He was not interested in working outdoors, but in his studio with models or more often from memory. Early in his career, he aspired to become a history painter, a vocation for which he was well prepared by his rigorous, academic training and close study of classical art. Shortly after his thirties, he changed course, applying the traditional methods of the historical painter to contemporary subjects, became a classic painter of modern life. A draftsman, he has been identified with the subject of dance, and about half of his works depict female dancers. These demonstrate his mastery of the depiction of movement, as do racehorses and female nudes. His portraits are among the best in the history of Art.