Degas Little Dancer Aged Fourteen

This absorbing, heartfelt work uncovers the story of the real dancer behind Degas’s now-iconic sculpture, shedding light on the struggles of late nineteenth-century Parisian life. She is famous throughout the world, but how many know her name? You can admire her figure in Washington, Paris, London, New York, Dresden, or Copenhagen, but where is her grave? We know only her age, fourteen, and the work that she did—because it was already grueling work, at an age when children today are sent to school. In the 1880s, she danced as a “little rat” at the Paris Opera, and what is often a dream for young girls now wasn’t a dream for her. She was fired after several years of intense labor; the director had had enough of her repeated absences. 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. She was a model, posing for painters or sculptors—among them Edgar Degas. Drawing on a wealth of historical material as well as her own love of ballet and personal experiences of loss, Camille Laurens presents a compelling, compassionate portrait of Marie van Goethem and the world she inhabited that shows the importance of those who have traditionally been overlooked in the study of art.

Beginning with the hitherto unknown plaster version of Edgar Degas' Little Dancer, Aged Fourteen, Dr. Gregory Hedberg undertakes a comprehensive re-evaluation of the significance and influence of this work of modern art.

Paris, 1878. Ballet dancer Marie van Goethem is chosen by the unknown artist Edgar Degas to model for his new sculpture: Little Dancer, aged fourteen years. But Marie is much more than she seems. By day she’s a 'little rat' of the opera, contorting her starving body to entertain the bourgeoisie. By night she’s plotting to overthrow the government and reinstate the Paris Commune, to keep a promise she made to her father, a leading Communard who died in the street massacres of 1871. As Marie watches the troubling sculpture of herself come to life in Degas’ hands, she falls further into the intoxicating world of bohemian, Impressionist Paris, a world at odds with the socialist principles she has vowed to uphold. With the fifth Impressionist Exhibition looming, a devastating family secret is uncovered which changes everything for both Marie and Degas. As Degas struggles to finish his sculpture and the police close in on Marie, she must decide where her loyalties lie and act to save herself, her family and the Little Dancer.

#1 National Bestseller and New York Times Bestseller Paris, 1878. Following her father’s sudden death, Marie van Goethem is dispatched to the Paris Opéra, where for a scant wage she is trained to enter the famous Ballet. Her older sister, Antoinette, finds work—and the love of a dangerous young man—as an extra on the stage. Marie is soon modeling in the studio of renowned artist Edgar Degas, who will immortalize her image forever, while Antoinette must make the choice between a life of honest labor and the more profitable avenues open to a willing young woman—that is, unless her perilous love derails her completely. Set at a moment of profound artistic, cultural, and societal change, The Painted Girls is a tale of two remarkable sisters rendered uniquely vulnerable to the darker impulses of civilized society. Praise for THE PAINTED GIRLS #1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER NPR BEST BOOK GOOD HOUSEKEEPING BEST BOOK GOODREADS CHOICE AWARD FINALIST ONTARIO PUBLIC LIBRARY EVERGREEN AWARD WINNER CHATELAINE BOOK CLUB PICK PEOPLE MAGAZINE PICK ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY MUST LIST PICK VANITY FAIR HOT TYPE PICK VOGUE BOOKS PEOPLE ARE TALKING ABOUT PICK HARPER’S BAZAAR WHAT WE’RE READING NOW PICK USA TODAY NEW & NOTEWORTHY PICK CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR SMART NEW HISTORICAL NOVELS PICK SAN FRANCISO CHRONICLE BOOK RECOMMENDATION BOSTON GLOBE WORD ON THE STREET PICK INDIE NEXT PICK GOOD MORNING TEXAS BUY THE BOOK PICK ASPEN DAILY NEWS BOOKSELLERS STAFF PICK ZOOMER BOOKMARK PICK SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL BEST BOOK SAFEWAY BOOK OF THE MONTH

This volume presents the sculptures of French artist Edgar Degas (1834-1917). Degas is known for his work in painting, sculpture, printmaking and drawing. He is regarded as one of the founders of Impressionism, although he rejected the term, and preferred to be called a realist. Although best known as a painter, his most widely known work is a sculpture, "Little Dancer Aged Fourteen". Executed in wax, near life-sized, dressed in a ballerina's tutu, with real ballet slippers and real hair, the sculpture caused a sensation when it was exhibited in 1881. It is the only sculpture Degas ever showed publicly, though more than one hundred -- of dancers, horses, and bathers -- were found in his studio after he died, all dusty, some fallen apart. This work includes essays on Degas' life and work, his sculptural technique and materials, and the story of the sculptures after his death. It features art-historical and technical discussions of every work in the collection as well as concordances and bibliography.

Marie dreams of becoming the most famous ballerina in the world. When she joins the ballet school in Paris, she notices a fierce man sitting at the side, sketching the dancers. The man is the painter, Edgar Degas, and his clay model of Marie does indeed make her the most famous dancer of all.

Through Edgar Degas’s beloved paintings, drawings, and sculptures, Susan Goldman Rubin conveys the wonder and excitement of the ballet world. Degas is one of the most celebrated painters of the impressionist movement, and his ballerina paintings are among the most favorite of his fans. In his artwork, Degas captures every moment, from the relentless hours of practice to the glamour of appearing on stage, revealing a dancer’s journey from novice to prima ballerina. Observing young students, Degas drew their poses again and again, determined to achieve perfection. The book includes a brief biography of his entire life, endnotes, bibliography, where to see his paintings, and an index.

In the City of Lights, at the dawn of a new age, begins an unforgettable story of great love, great art—and the most painful choices of the heart. With this fresh and vibrantly imagined portrait of the Impressionist artist Edgar Degas, readers are transported through the eyes of a young Parisian ballerina to an era of light and movement. An ambitious and enterprising farm girl, Alexandrie joins the prestigious Paris Opera ballet with hopes of securing not only her place in society but her family’s financial future. Her plan is soon derailed, however, when she falls in love with the enigmatic artist whose paintings of the offstage lives of the ballerinas scandalized society and revolutionized the art world. As Alexandrie is drawn deeper into Degas’s art and Paris’s secrets, will she risk everything for her dreams of love and of becoming the ballet’s star dancer?