Edgar Degas and the nude red-headed girl

Almost fifty years ago this print was clipped from the esteemed pages of LIFE magazine. At the time it was said to be the first and only time this Degas pastel painting had ever been seen outside of a museum. No prints had ever been authorized. This was the only one. You couldn’t buy a print like this one anywhere. (Except of course in that LIFE magazine and there were probably a few of those around.) Consequently, for a long time, the print was a treasured possession, well framed and displayed on a prominent wall in whatever residence held the family. It was finally released as a print and over the years much has been said about the session with the shallow tub, the red headed girl and Edgar Degas. Aside from being executed on an exact square 27 ¼ x 27 ¼ which always attracts this mind, the geometrics of the whole piece are fascinating. It is a difficult figure to capture too. The colors are warm and full of life. The picture is quite candid. It is not a pose but a moment in this girl’s life. One has the feeling of just a glance toward a mundane event. ”Degas Pastels” (Watson-Guptil Publications, 1515 Broadway, New York, NY 10036) first published in 1967 in hardback and then in paperback 8 years later, lists the painting as belonging to the Hill-Stead Museum of Farmington, Connecticut. This would be around the time of the Life Magazine publication. It is currently listed as being in Musée d’Orsay, Paris. One item read recently proclaimed that there were only nine paintings (pastel drawings) as a result of the session. Over the years there seemed to be many more than that. An investigation seemed warranted. Are there more than nine? Was the red-haired model at more than one session? Was there more than one model? There is always the possibility that there are more like this one, never having been shown at all outside of a museum. So collecting a sample of each one would be limited to only those that have been published of course. But it seems we’ve SEEN more than nine… First thing discovered is that there really are lots of “girl at bath” paintings and drawings from Degas. We found 90 to compare here. Maybe Degas, like Charlie Brown, had a thing for red haired girls. He did lots of pastel paintings of them; not as many as ballet dancers but many. When they get all together in one thumbnail page, the differences begin to emerge. Indeed they are not all from the same session. Note that these comparisons and groupings disregard the suggested dating of the originals. The date is often only a broad guess, such as “1895-1898”. Also there seems to be some discrepancy from one publication to another about the dating. The comparisons here are strictly visual, no background information is considered. First let’s compare the panels with the deep tub showing or no tub at all. He is regarded as one of the founders of Impressionism although he preferred to be called a realist. Today, September 27, in 1917 we lost Hilaire-Germain-Edgar Degas. Goodbye Monsieur Degas and thanks. This page has had hundreds of visitors. Does anyone know of a painting that should be included somewhere above? Let me know what you think.