AT THE STATE HERMITAGE MUSEUM | DECEMBER 20 2013 – FEBRUARY 16 2014

Born in 1834 as Hilaire-Germain-Edgar de Gas, the artist (Edgar Degas) began sculpting in wax circa 1860. He modeled a large number of his waxes in conjunction with his well-known paintings and drawings. His most important wax sculpture, The Little Dancer, Aged Fourteen, was exhibited in the 1881 Sixth Impressionist Exhibition in Paris. The wax sculpture, dressed with a bodice, tutu, slippers and a wig made with real hair, was radically different from any sculpture previously seen. It caused a sensation. While some reviews were very favorable most were hostile and negative, the reason why Degas never exhibited another sculpture during his lifetime. Shortly after his death in 1917 his heirs found about one hundred fifty of his wax sculptures scattered around his home and studio. Seventy-four were cast in bronze. The subjects included his highly regarded dancers in motion, dancers at rest, horses in motion and at rest, bathers and seated figures.

The State Hermitage Museum is presenting this exhibition, “Edgar Degas-Figures In Motion” opens on December 20 2013, to highlight the importance of the bronze sculptures of Edgar Degas and place them in the proper historical context of modern masterpieces. The collection of 74 bronze sculptures will be on loan to the museum for one year, courtesy of the M.T. Abraham Foundation, Paris. A scholarly hardcover catalog will accompany the exhibition and include essays by Dr. Jon Whiteley, Dr. June Hargrove and Geraldine Norman with forewords by Dr. Mikhail B. Piotrovsky and Amir G. Kabiri. The catalogue will be distributed worldwide. The exhibition will open 20 December 2013 at 18:00, The General Staff Building, 6–8 Dvortsovaya Sq., St. Petersburg, Russia. Entrance under the Arch of the General Staff Building.

EXHIBITION CURATORS

Dr. Sergey O. Androssov, Head of the Western European Art Department, State Hermitage Museum
Mr. Mikhail O. Dedinkin, Curator and Deputy Head of the Western European Art Department, State Hermitage Museum
Mrs. Irina Etoeva, Curator at the Western European Art Department, State Hermitage Museum
Ms. Dalit L. Durst, Chief Curator at the M.T. Abraham Foundation