Form, Style and Function, The Little Dancer Aged 14

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  • FORM, STYLE AND FUNCTION: 'The Little Dancer Aged 14', Edgar Degas
    • FIGURE
      • did not hold status nor power, she became a representative of the ordinary lives for many families
        • presented as skinny and impoverished, reflective of her lifestyle
        • Like many dancers of the time, she was of working-class background and from one of the poorest families in Paris
        • not curvaceous like past sculptures of the female form, nor consistent with the idea of youth being beautiful
          • compared to Paul Dubois' ‘The Florentine Singer’. This sculpture was highly admired at the time and embodied the more traditional aspects of sculpture, as well as preconceived notions of beauty and grace.
        • In order to support her family many dancers had to resort to other means of work; season-ticket holders, often aristocratic men of the Opera house, would meet Ballerinas behind stage in the foyer de la danse in order to find a mistress.
          • The fact that prostitution was officiated and encouraged in this way by the staff members only enforced people's doubts towards the working-class lifestyle.
      • 19th century ideas on physiognomy to connect her with a life of vice
        • Due to the publications of the likes of Charles Darwin and Johann Caspar Lavater, people had come to believe that the more simian features you possessed, the more sinful you were as you were "not as developed" and therefore stupid.
        • labelled "little monkey" and said she displayed "brutish insolence" due to her physical alterations
          • bumps in certain places on the head were supposed to indicate this
            • When X-rayed it was revealed that Degar had created bumps on the back of her head
          • pushed the neck back so to flatten the forehead and make the ears appear lower than the actual line of the mouth to give Marie these primitive features
        • juxtaposed in his showcase in 1881 next to two pastel drawings of teenage criminals involved in a murder trial
      • Although she is made to seem realistic socially, her proportions are only two-thirds of a real fourteen year old girl, exaggerating a state of underdevelopment and malnourishment.
        • arms are taut, the legs are quite twisted round and there is tension in the pose, indicative of disciplined arts yet her face is tilted upwards, her eyes closed as if bored and lost in a daydream
          • The common pose and her expression help reflect the mundane and ordinary. Degas would've frequently witnessed it due to his regular visits to the ballet, a consistent theme in his other works.
    • MATERIALS
      • Even the material of choice enforced the idea of the figure being anti-beauty
        • made of wax, giving it a flesh-like appearance, yet quite grotesque due to the way the light refracted off the material, making it look sticky, almost preserved
        • In this period, wax was an unusual material that had not previously been used for large scale sculptures and was therefore absent of the classical feel of bronze or marble, despite allowing Degas to achieve a similar degree of detail
        • texture of the wax also provides a huge contrast to the marble forms: there is a lack of luxury (due to the price of the material) and elegance as in contrast it looks unrefined, unpolished
        • darkness creates the same masculine feel that bronze does
      • Comparisons with older art were made
        • perhaps partly because it was exhibited in a glass case, like classical sculpture in the Louvre, and was dressed in a wig of human hair and dance clothes
      • he glass case and the choice to use real elements also strengthens the resemblance made between the little dancer and the wax models in anthropology museums, as well as creating a piece far removed from idealisation
        • One critic referred to it as cage-like, which may be a reflection upon how families forced their young girls to participate in the ballet to survive
      • entire form was supported by an improvised armature which had paint brushes used to support smaller sections, the ferrels visible on x-rays carried out on the sculpture.
        • Other improvised materials were found in the wax- household amenities such as olive oil were discovered and made the wax more malleable and easy to work with.
    • MODERN ADAPTATION
      • After Degas' death, his heirs made the decision to have the bronze repetitions against his wishes. 28 were created
        • This decision removed part of the sculpture's personality
          • bronze, she looks classical due to the material's associations with antiquity and is no longer representative of a specimen for disease
          • A lot of detail of the folds of the bodice have also been lost in the casting process
          • bronze still holds the masculine attributes of the wax
      • The fact she is in the fourth position also gives her a timeless quality
        • despite ballet evolving throughout time into a highly admired and disciplinary art, those positions are unchanged
      • When viewed with the contemporary eye, The Little Dancer is seen as a model for many young children, for the classical dialogue is often disregarded in the modern public eye
        • Ballet is associated nowadays with those with a middle-class upbringing, with no need to make money by illegal means
        • People also no longer hold the ideas surrounding physiognomy and so do not criminalize the sculpture based on her appearance, particularly as she is no longer showcased next to the two male counterparts.
    • INTRODUCTION
      • Created between 1879-1881
      • theme of contemporary leisure
      • 19th century artist Edgar Degas
      • sculpture of the individual Maria Van Goethem, a ballet dancer at the dance school of the Paris Opéra

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