Degas’ sculptures were rarely exhibited during his lifetime, and many were found in a deteriorated state upon his death. The little dancer, due to superb conservation efforts, has been preserved and maintained by many museums, and is now one of the highlights in their collections. Clearly, to many people it is already quite valuable and beautiful; but here are my thoughts.
Degas’ fascination with the ballet makes him quite well prepared to attempt at capturing it in a sculptural form (despite having less experience with the medium) and I feel this is very true in this case. He understood the ballet from both a stage and a backstage perspective, where he appreciated not only the flawless, fluidic end product on stage, but the time, effort and difficulty in which went into preparing for such a performance. This sculpture captures one of those moments in which the dancer is taking a short pause, a break, from her practice, before she goes back into the typical motions we associate with the ballet. The gentle leaning of the back, the firm grasp of hands
The choice of stance is quite critical to conveying this feeling, where her body is not in a casual pose, but quite in the mood of the ballet. This snapshot of hers portrays a glimpse of the human, in a seemingly ethereal ballet dancer. Their movements which we are so awed by are made possible due to this moment, which Degas shares with us. The fluidity and organic nature of the tutu contrasts so well with the solid bronze, in a sort of magic trick—where the fluid body has been frozen in time, while the hair and the clothes are reality paused. To me, the distressing of the tutu and the bronze convey the feeling of exhaustion and human-ness. He could have made it from a very hard material, like marble, to capture it in the traditional flawless way, but he chose to reveal this other side of beauty and it is done so well.