Singer with a Glove - Edgar Degas
Archival giclée
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Description
A study of a Parisian café-concert performer, capturing the physical intensity of her vocal delivery through charcoal and pastel.
Edgar Degas, a central figure in the Impressionist movement, frequently turned his attention to the Parisian café-concert. This work, Singer with a Glove, captures a performer in the midst of a vocal delivery. Degas focuses on the physical exertion of the singer, her head tilted back and mouth open, conveying the raw energy of the performance. The artist uses charcoal to define the contours of her figure, while touches of white pastel add texture to the ruffles of her costume and the fabric of her glove.
The composition is cropped tightly, a technique Degas adopted from his interest in photography and Japanese prints. By focusing on the upper torso and the raised arm, he removes the context of the stage, forcing the viewer to engage directly with the subject's expression and posture. The background remains largely unworked, allowing the warm tone of the paper to provide a neutral setting that does not distract from the singer's dramatic gesture.
Degas was less interested in the polished glamour of the stage than in the reality of the performers. His approach here is observational, documenting the specific tension in the singer's neck and the way her glove bunches at the wrist. The work demonstrates his ability to capture a fleeting moment of movement with economy of line. Through his use of mixed media, Degas balances the structural strength of charcoal with the softer, atmospheric qualities of pastel. This piece offers a glimpse into the social life of late nineteenth-century Paris, reflecting the artist's fascination with the theatre and the individuals who inhabited its spaces. It remains a characteristic example of his draftsmanship and his preference for unconventional, asymmetrical compositions.
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Materials & Sizing
Museum-grade giclée on FSC-certified archival matte paper, with framed and canvas options.
- Paper sizes: A4, A3, A2, A1, A0 and B2 (50×70 cm)
- Canvas: XS (20×30 cm) to Large (60×90 cm)
- Frames: black, natural wood, dark wood or white
Singer with a Glove - Edgar Degas
Artist Biography
Edgar Degas
More than half of his entire output depicts dancers. He became a fixture at the Paris Opera, watching from the wings and from boxes above the stage, sketching not the performance but the work behind it: the stretching, the waiting, the adjusting of shoes, the corrections from the ballet master. The backstage fatigue interested him more than the applause.
In 1881, he exhibited Little Dancer Aged Fourteen, a two-thirds life-size wax figure of Marie van Goethem, a real student at the Opera ballet school. She wore a real tutu, real ballet slippers, and a wig of human hair, all coated in wax. Critics called it repulsive. One described the girl as having a face marked by the hateful promise of every vice. Wax was a material for anatomical specimens, not art. It was the only sculpture he exhibited in his lifetime. After his death, 150 more wax figures were found in his studio, many falling apart.
His eyesight began failing during the Franco-Prussian War. By his forties he had lost central vision. By fifty-seven he could not read. The deterioration drove him from fine brushwork to bolder strokes, then to pastels, then to sculpture he could work by touch. He avoided daylight and painted under controlled artificial light. Collectors joked they should chain their Degas paintings to the wall, because he would try to take them back to rework them. He compulsively revised everything.
He disliked being called an Impressionist. He preferred Realist or Independent. He never painted outdoors, which was supposedly the whole point of the movement. Despite this, he co-founded the group, organised their exhibitions, and showed in all eight. He said: there is love and there is art and we only have one heart. He never married.
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