Edgar Degas
Little Dancer, Aged Fourteen
1880-1920
Physical Qualities
Bronze with fabric, 38 x 19 1/4 x 19 13/16 in. (96.5 x 48.9 x 50.3 cm.)
Credit Line
Alice Morawetz Bequest Fund
Object Number
1943.1
The model for Little Dancer was Marie van Goethem, daughter of a Belgian laundress and tailor. She was born on February 17, 1864, and was fourteen when Degas began his studies for this work. It was not until 1888 that she made her debut as a ballerina at the Paris Opéra. She subsequently pursued a career as an artist’s model and frequented the bohemian haunts of Montmartre.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by purchase, 1943; M. Knoedler & Co., New York; Mademoiselle J. Fevre (Degas niece)
Degas exhibition, Paris, 1931.
Fort Worth, TX, "Centennial 1849-1949", March 11 - April 15, 1949, no. 10, p. 17
American University, "Washington, D.C. Tradition and Experiment in Modern Sculpture", November-December 1949.
Baltimore Museum of Art, "Behold the Child", November 7-December 3, 1950, no. 20.
Fort Worth, TX, Centennial 1849-1949, March 11-April 15, 1949, no. 10, p. 17.
Baltimore Museum of Art, "From Ingres to Gauguin", November-December 1951, no. 111.
Baltimore Museum of Art, "Manet, Degas, Berthe Morisot & Mary Cassatt", April 17-June 3, 1962, no. 76, p. 57.
Museum of Art, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, "The Crisis of Impressionism", November 2 - January 6, 1980.
Joslyn Art Museum, "Degas and The Little Dancer", 7 February-3 May 1998; circulated to the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 30 May-8 September 1998; The Baltimore Museum of Art, 4 October 1998-3 January 1999.
Catalogue by Richard Kendall, with contributions by Douglas W. Druick and Arthur Beale, Yale University Press, New Haven, 1998, cat. no. 62, illus. back cover.
Katy Rothkopf, "Matisse, Picasso and the School of Paris", circulated to North Carolina Museum of Art, October 10, 2004-January 16, 2005, Naples Museum of Art February 5, 2005-May,1 2005.
Fort Worth, TX, "Centennial 1849-1949", March 11 - April 15, 1949, no. 10, p. 17
American University, "Washington, D.C. Tradition and Experiment in Modern Sculpture", November-December 1949.
Baltimore Museum of Art, "Behold the Child", November 7-December 3, 1950, no. 20.
Fort Worth, TX, Centennial 1849-1949, March 11-April 15, 1949, no. 10, p. 17.
Baltimore Museum of Art, "From Ingres to Gauguin", November-December 1951, no. 111.
Baltimore Museum of Art, "Manet, Degas, Berthe Morisot & Mary Cassatt", April 17-June 3, 1962, no. 76, p. 57.
Museum of Art, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, "The Crisis of Impressionism", November 2 - January 6, 1980.
Joslyn Art Museum, "Degas and The Little Dancer", 7 February-3 May 1998; circulated to the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 30 May-8 September 1998; The Baltimore Museum of Art, 4 October 1998-3 January 1999.
Catalogue by Richard Kendall, with contributions by Douglas W. Druick and Arthur Beale, Yale University Press, New Haven, 1998, cat. no. 62, illus. back cover.
Katy Rothkopf, "Matisse, Picasso and the School of Paris", circulated to North Carolina Museum of Art, October 10, 2004-January 16, 2005, Naples Museum of Art February 5, 2005-May,1 2005.
Degas exhibition, Paris, catalogue, 1931, p. 124
Baltimore Museum of Art News, May 1943, p. 4, ill.
"A Picture Book," Baltimore Museum of Art, 1955, ill.
Charles Seymour, Jr., "Tradition and Experiment in Modern Sculpture," Washington, D.C.: American University Press, p. 45
John Rewald, transl. J. Coleman and N. Moulton, "Degas: Sculpture, the Complete Works," New York: Abrams 1956, no. 20
K. R. Greenfield, 'The Museum: Its First Half Century,' "Annual I," Baltimore Museum of Art, 1966, p. 49.
Sara Campbll, 'A Catalogue of Degas' Bronzes,' "Apollo," August 1995: p. 46-47, ill. p. 46.
June Hargrove, "Degas's Little 14 Year Old Dancer: Madonna of the Third Republic?", The Sculpture Journal 2, October 1997, p. 1-9
Deborah Solomon, 'In a Solo Turn, a Tempest Over a Famed Tutu,' "New York Times," May 31, 1998, illus.
Richard Kendall, "Degas and the Little Dancer", Joslyn Art Museum, 1998, p. 175, illustrated back cover.
Joseph Czestochowski and Anne Pingeot, "Degas Sculptures: Catalogue Raisonne of the Bronzes," New York: Torch Press and International Arts, 2002, 267.
'A Coup for Naples,' "Naples Daily News," 2/4/2005, pp. 7A, 7D, ill.
'60 Objects Countless Stories,' "BMA Today," Winter 2008-2009, pp. 6-7, ill. p. 6.
"Family Fun," BMA Today, Summer 2010, p. 15, ill.
Baltimore Museum of Art. The Baltimore Museum of Art: Celebrating a Museum. Baltimore: The Baltimore Museum of Art, 2014.
On View at the BMA
