Degas: A Passion for FAKES at the Denver Art Museum
Re: Degas: A Passion for Perfection will showcase prolific French artist Edgar Degas’ works from 1855 to 1906. More than 100 works consisting of paintings, drawings, pastels, etchings, monotypes, and sculptures in bronze will be on view.
https://denverartmuseum.org/exhibitions/degas-passion-perfection
https://denverartmuseum.org/exhibitions/degas-passion-perfection
One legal definition of fake is “something that is not what it purports to be.”[FN 1]
Out of the 66 potential works of visual art attributed to Edgar Degas in the Denver Art Museum’s February 11 to May 20, 2018 Degas: A Passion for Perfection exhibition, 10 are non-disclosed posthumous [1919-1981] fakes falsely attributed as original works of visual art i.e., "sculpture in bronze" and "etchings" to dead Edgar Degas [d 1917].
The dead don’t sculpt, much less etch.
In other words, a dead Edgar Degas [d 1917] has never seen these 10 non-disclosed posthumous [1919-1981] fakes that the Denver Art Museum and others are so eager to attribute to him for the price of admission, city-state-federal grants, corporate sponsorship and other monetary considerations.
Edgar Degas’ career as an artist ended upon his death in 1917. As tragic as that Edgar Degas’s death in 1917 may have been for his family, friends and other interested parties, the dead cannot posthumously create, much less approve, any more works of visual art i.e., "sculptures in bronze" and "etchings."
To belabor the point, the dead don’t sculpt, much less etch.
Therefore, would the Denver Art Museum’s misrepresentation of 10 non-disclosed posthumous [1919-1981] fakes, falsely attributing that it “will showcase prolific French artist Edgar Degas’ works from 1855 to 1906,” be “a knowing misrepresentation of the truth or concealment of a material fact to induce another to act to his or her detriment”[FN 2] which is one legal definition of fraud?
The following documentation discloses that the ten [1-10] so-called "sculptures in bronze" and "etchings," in the Denver Art Museum's February 11 - May 20, 2018 Degas, A Passion For Perfection exhibition, are actually non-disclosed posthumous [1919-1981] fakes falsely attributed as original works of visual art to a dead Edgar Degas [d 1917].
https://denverartmuseum.org/exhibitions/degas-passion-perfection
FIRST, the Denver Art Museum states their Degas: A Passion for Perfection exhibition contains “sculptures in bronze.”
There are no "sculptures in bronze" in the Degas: A Passion for Perfection exhibition.
CHECKLIST:
[eight [8] non-disclosed 3rd-generation-removed brass [not bronze] forgeries with counterfeit “Degas” signatures in bogus editions.]
- 1. 6 Edgar Degas [1834-1917], Horse Walking, cast before 1 March 1924, when exhibited in Glasgow [original wax modelled early 1870s], Copper alloy, inscribed ’11/J’, 23.4 x 23.2 x 8.cm, Fitwilliam Museum, Cambridge [M.11-1951], Fig 8
- 2. 7 Edgar Degas [1834-1917], Fourth Position Front, on the Left Leg, date of casting uncertain, probably c. 1921 [original wax modelled c. 1885-90], Copper alloy, inscribed ’58/D’, 58.3 x 36 x 8.cm, Fitwilliam Museum, Cambridge [M.11-1951], Fig 9
- 3. 67 Edgar Degas [1834-1917], Woman Arranging her Hair, cast 1920, (original wax modelled possibly late 1880s/1890), Copper alloy, inscribed ’50/A’, 46.4 x 24.8 x 16.8 cm, H.O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs H.O. Havemeyer, 1929, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (29.100.438), Fib. 110
- 4. 117 Edgar Degas [1834-1917], Horse with Head Lowered, date of casting uncertain, probably c. 1921 (original wax modelled late 1880s -early 1890s), Copper alloy, inscribed ’22/E’, 18.1 x 28 x 7.3 cm, Fitwilliam Museum, Cambridge (M.5-1978), Fig. 206
- 5. 118 Edgar Degas [1834-1917], Arabesque over the Right Leg, left Arm in Front, Second Study, date of casting uncertain, possibly later 1920s/early 1930s, definitely 1947 (original wax modelled c. 1885-90), Copper alloy, inscribed ‘1/N’, 30 x 39.8 x 14.5 cm, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (M.6-1978), Fig. 207
- 6. 119 Edgar Degas [1834-1917], Arabesque over the Right Leg, Left Arm in Front, First Study, date of casting uncertain, definitely by 1949 (original wax modelled c. 1882-95), Copper alloy, inscribed ’14/T’, 20.6 x 25.5 x 10.3 cm, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (M. 36-1982), Fig. 208
- 7. 120 Edgar Degas [1834-1917], Arabesque over the Right Leg, Left Arm in Front, First Study, date of casting uncertain, probably c. 1930, definitely by July 1931 (original wax modelled 1882-95), Copper alloy, inscribed ’14/P’, 21 x 26.4 x 9.3 cm, Musee d’Orsay, Paris, Acquired through the generosity of the heirs of the artist and Hebrard, 1931 (RF 2065), Fib. 210
- 8. 122 Edgar Degas [1834-1917], The Tub, cast 1920 (original wax modelled c. 1889), Copper alloy, inscribed ’26/A’, 21.6 x 45.4 x 42.2 cm, H.O. Havermeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H.O. Havemeyer, 1929, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (29.100419), Fig. 214
Once again, there are no “sculptures in bronze,” attributable to Edgar Degas, in this exhibition. Edgar Degas was dead when they were posthumously cast in brass [not bronze as will be documented later].
The term cast, on page 70 of Ralph Mayer’s 1999 HarperCollins Dictionary of Art Terms & Techniques, is defined as: “to reproduce an object, such as a piece of sculpture, by means of a MOLD.”[FN 3]
To reproduce results in reproductions.
Under U.S. Copyright 106A, it states the “Rights of Attribution - shall not apply to any reproduction.”[FN 4]
In other words, under U.S. Copyright Law, reproductions cannot be attributed to a living artist, much less a dead one even if their name happens to be Edgar Degas.
Remember, Edgar Degas died in 1917. The dead don’t sculpt. That’s a duh but for those who need documentation to support the obvious, here it is.
A sculpture, on page 372 in Ralph Mayer’s 1999 HarperCollins Dictionary of Art Terms & Techniques, is defined as: “The creation of three dimensional forms by carving, modeling or assembly. In carving, the sculptor removes unwanted material.... In modeling on the other hand, the sculptor creates a form by building it up...”[FN 5]
The dead don’t carve, model or assemble.
A sculptor, on the J. Paul Getty Trust’s website under their Getty Vocabulary Program, is defined as: “artists who specialize in creating images and forms that are carried out primarily in three dimensions, generally in the media of stone, wood, or metal.”[FN 6]
The dead don’t specialize.
So, the following documents the contentious issues of authenticity surrounding the eight [8] 3rd-generation-removed brass [not bronze] forgeries with counterfeit “Degas” signatures in bogus editions.
DEGAS NEVER CAST IN BRONZE
On page 180 in the National Gallery of Art’s published 1998 Degas at the Races catalogue in Daphne S. Barbour’s and Shelly G. Sturman’s “The Horse in Wax and Bronze” essay, these authors wrote: “Degas never cast his sculpture in bronze, claiming that it was a “tremendous responsibility to leave anything behind in bronze -- the medium is for eternity.”[FN 7]
MIXED-MEDIA SCULPTURE
On page 180 in the National Gallery of Art’s published 1998 Degas at the Races catalogue in Daphne S. Barbour’s and Shelly G. Sturman’s “The Horse in Wax and Bronze” essay, these authors wrote: “Not a single sculpture has been found to be made exclusively of wax, and none was intended to be sacrificed and melted during lost-wax casting.”[FN 8]
Yet, throughout the Degas: A Passion for Perfection catalogue the authors Jane Munro, Jill DeVonyar, and Victoria Avery continue to perpetuate the misconception that Edgar Degas created his sculpture in wax. Here are just three examples:
- Jane Munro: page 99, “his wax sculpture Little Dancer Aged Fourteen, exhibited at the sixth impressionist exhibition in 1881 (fig. 173).”
- Jill DeVonyar: page 161, “173 Little Dancer Aged Fourteen, cast c. 1922 (original wax modelled c. 1878-81), Copper alloy with a fabric skit, Robert and lisa Sainsbury Collection, University of East Anglia, acquire 1938 C. 98”
- Victoria Avery: page 186, “Each was conceived by Degas and created in 1880s when he was in his fifties, using coloured wax over iron armatures that were fixed to wooden boards. These lifetime waxes were part of a larger group of approximately one hundred and fifty pieces of sculpture - mainly in beeswax, but also in Plastiline (a man-made modelling material similar to plasticine) and plaster -“
[underline mine]
POSTHUMOUS WAX REPRODUCTIONS
On page 356 in the National Gallery of Art’s published 2010 Edgar Degas Sculpture catalogue, under the subtitle: “Glossary,” -intermodel- is defined as: “Wax copy of an original artist’s model made in a mold taken of the original; also referred to as a sacrificial wax. It is a wax melted out and lost in an indirect cast. As a method, it preserves the original artist’s model.”[FN 9]
Casting from a posthumous reproductions, not from Degas’ mixed-media originals is confirmed on page 201 of the Degas: A Passion for Perfection catalogue, where Fitzwilliam Museum’s Victoria Avery wrote: “This is why from the Renaissance onwards most fine art bronzes were cast using the indirect method, which sacrificed a replica intermodel (created from moulds taken from the original) rather than the original itself.”
These so-called “replica intermodels” sacrificed were posthumously made of wax by the hands, fingers and fingerprints of the Hebrard founder and his foundry workers.
FOUNDER & FOUNDRY WORKERS' FINGERPRINTS
On page 28 of the “Degas’ Bronzes Analyzed” essay by Shelley G. Sturman and Daphne S. Barbour in the National Gallery of Art’s published 2010 Edgar Degas Sculpture catalogue, the authors wrote: “In terms of overall surface quality, the bronzes appear to be smooth, faithful reproductions of the waxes. In some cases, however, tooling is not visible on the bronze where it is present on a wax. This discrepancy may be the result of additional work to the waxes after casting or to degeneration of the molds used for the casting, with the result that some of the casts, regardless of their letter sequence, may have less detail tha others. For instance, there is a fingerprint on the bronze version of Horse Racing (cat. 10) that is no present on the wax (cat. 9). Here even a foundryman’s fingerprint while handling the wax intermodel was reproduced in bronze. Adhemar notes that Palazzolo was able to detect a fake Degas bronze because he knew where to find his own fingerprints on the originals.”[FN 10]
SURMOULAGES
On page 78 in the essay “Degas; The Sculptures,” by Hirshhorn Curator of Sculpture Valerie J. Fletcher, published in Ann Dumas and David A. Brenneman’s 2001 Degas and America The Early Collectors catalogue, the author wrote: “In 1919-20 Hebrard’s founder Albino Palazzolo, made a first set of [Degas] bronzes. -- Those 'masters' served to make molds for casting edition of twenty-two bronzes. Technically, all bronzes except the master set are surmoulages.” In the ARTnews' published November 1974 "Flagrant Abuses, Pernicious Practices and Counterfeit Sculpture are Widespread" article, the Associate Editor Sylvia Hochfield defines -surmoulage- as: “smaller in scale and of demonstrably diminished definition than the bronze from which it was cast.”[FN 11]
COUNTERFEIT SIGNATURES
On page 32-33 in Charles W. Milliard’s 1976 The Sculpture of Edgar Degas, the author wrote: “Each cast is stamped with the legend 'cire perdue A.A. Hebrard' in relief, and incised with the signature ‘Degas.’” Later on page 34, the author wrote: “At least some of the casts were set on wooden bases into which the signature “Degas” was burned.”[FN 12]
BOGUS EDITIONS
On page 14 of the Degas Sculpture catalogue, in Joseph S. Czestochowski’s "Degas’s Sculptures Re-examined” essay, the author wrote: “Almost eight months after Degas died in September 1917, a contract to cast the sculptures in bronze was signed on 13 May 1918. - The contract authorized that the number of casts be strictly limited to only twenty-two examples of each of the sculptures, with only twenty of the cast available for sale - first set reserved for the artist’s heirs and another set reserved for the Hebrard Foundry.” Yet, Joseph S. Czestochowski wrote that Hebrard created “duplicates” by misleading marking them as “HER,” created an unauthorized set of bronzes “marked MODELE” and “released an unknown number of test casts, marked AP (founder’s initials), - FR MODELE (founder’s model), - FR (founder), - and a number of other exceptions to the 1918 contract.”[FN 13]
BRASS NOT BRONZE
On page 243 of the Degas, A Passion For Perfection catalogue, it states: Note: sculpture and media, Although the posthumous casts of Degas’s sculpture are traditionally described as ‘bronzes’ in the art-historical literature, technically this is a misnomer as analysis undertaken by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D. C. has shown that the copper alloy used by the Hebrard foundry to cast the modeles as well as the edition casts is brass (whose principal alloying element is zinc) and not bronze (whose principal alloying element is tin). For this reason they are identified as ‘copper alloy’ in the checklist, but referred to as ‘bronzes’ in the generic senses in the main text.[FN 14]
ETHICAL GUIDELINES ON SCULPTURAL REPRODUCTION
Denver Art Museum, as a AAMD member, they endorse the College Art Association's ethical guidelines on sculptural reproduction. In part, those guidelines state: "Any transfer into new material unless specifically condoned by the artist is to be considered inauthentic and should not be acquired or exhibited as works of art."[FN 15]
So, the Denver Art Museum is exhibiting inauthentic work the dead Edgar Degas [d 1917] did not condone.
All brass and no Degas.
Edgar Degas, Self-Portrait, 1857, drypoint on paper, from a cancelled plate © The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.
https://denverartmuseum.org/exhibitions/degas-passion-perfection
NON-DISCLOSED POSTHUMOUS IMPRESSION [NOT IN EXHIBITION]
SECOND, the Denver Art Museum states their Degas: A Passion for Perfection exhibition contains “etchings” attributable to Edgar Degas.
There are no "etchings" attributable to Edgar Degas in the Degas: A Passion for Perfection exhibition.
CHECKLIST [continued]
[Two [2] non-disclosed posthumous impressions]
- 9. 37 Edgar Degas [1834-1917], Greek Landscape, The Anchorage, 1856. Etching on wove paper, from a cancelled plate. 80 x 67 mm (p;ate), 326 x 245 mm (sheet), Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (P.14-1978), Fig. 57
- 10. 38 Edgar Degas [1834-1917], Sportsman Mounting his Horse, c 1856. Etching on wove paper, from a cancelled plate. 84 x75 mm (p;ate), 329 x 243 mm (sheet), Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (P.15-1978), Fig. 58
Once again, there are no “etchings” attributable to Edgar Degas in this exhibition. Edgar Degas was dead when posthumous impressions were made from those cancelled plates.
In A GUIDE TO THE COLLECTING AND CARE OF ORIGINAL PRINTS sponsored by The Print Council of America and authored by Carl Zigrosser and Christa M. Gaehde, the authors wrote: "An original print is a work of art, the general requirements of which are: a. The artist alone has created the master image in or upon the plate, stone, wood block or other material, for the purpose of creating the print. b. The print is made from the said material, by the artist or pursuant to his directions. c. The finished print is approved by the artist."[FN 16]
The dead don't etch or direct, much less approve.
In U.S. Custom`s May 2006 An Informed Compliance Publication titled Works of Art, Collector`s Pieces Antiques, and Other Cultural Property, it states: "The expression original engravings, prints and lithographs means impressions produced directly, in black and white or in color, of one or of several plates wholly executed by hand by the artist, irrespective of the process or of the material employed by him, but excluding any mechanical or photomechanical process."[FN 17]
The dead don't etch, much less wholly execute.
In 1964, the Comite National de Graveurs of France rigidly set a similar definition of an original print as: "Impressions produced in color or black and white from one or more matrices conceived and executed by the artist himself whatever the technique employed and excluding all mechanical and photomechanical processes."[FN 18]
If the artist did not print their etching, they cannot be the author. If the artist is not the author, it cannot be an original work of visual art ie., etching attributable to them
Under U.S. Copyright Law 103. “Subject matter of copyright: Compilations and derivative works,” it states: “The copyright in a compilation or derivative work extends only to the material contributed by the author of such work.”[FN 19]
Derivatives are reproductions and reproductions are not attributable to an artist.
This factual perspective is confirmed by U.S. Copyright Law 106 A, “The Rights of Attribution - shall not apply to any reproduction?”[FN 20]
On page 72 of the Degas, A Passion For Perfection catalogue, it states: Degas’s Greasy Ink Drawing, “Three vertical lines were struck through the plate in an act of cancellation so as to preserve it but limit further printing or reworking by other hands, Degas probably oversaw the cancellation of his etching plates before selling some twenty of them to the dealer Ambroise Vollard around 1910. Impressions on heavily textured wove paper, such as the Fitzwilliam’s, were probably also printed for Vollard, who owned the plates until his death in 1939.”[FN 21]
“Probably also printed for Vollard” is confirmed on the Spaightwood Galleries' website, where it states: "Degas was a dedicated print collector (at his death he owned 1700 Daumier lithographs and 1900 prints by Gavarni). He made etchings, for the most part, from live subjects, sketching with an etching needle on a copperplate, and printed to please himself. Most of his prints are known only because after his death, his dealer, Ambroise Vollard, printed editions of 150 from the cancelled plates found in his studio."[FN 22]
This is additionally confirmed on the Pasquale Iannetti Art Gallery's website, where it states: "An edition of 150 impressions was printed for Ambroise Vollard circa 1919-20 from 21 copper plates which had been etched by Degas between 1855 and 1884, but which had since been canceled."[FN 23]
Furthermore, on JD Smith Fine Art's website, it states: "The original copper plate [for The Laundresses] was executed in 1879-80. This is a fine impression of Reed and Shapiro's fourth state after cancellation of the plate. It was printed as part of Ambroise Vollard's 1919 edition of ~150 impressions from Degas' cancelled plates. Catalog raisonne reference: Reed and Shapiro, Edgar Degas: The Painter as Printmaker, 48. Adhemar and Cachin, Degas: The Complete Etchings, Lithographs and Monotypes, 32."[FN 24]
Edgar Degas died in 1917. The posthumous impressions from his canceled plates did not begin till 1919, some two years after Edgar Degas' death.
Remember, the dead don't etch.
LATER IMPRESSIONS ARE USUALLY NOT THE DESIRE OF THE ARTIST
As for printing impressions from canceled plates, JD Smith Fine Art, on their website, states: "When an artist finishes printing the number of impressions they want of a work (the total edition size), they usually “cancel” the plate. To cancel the plate, they typically scribe noticeable crosshatch or “X” lines across the plate. These lines cross the image and will show up on any later impressions made from the plate. The lines indicate that any later impressions were not part of the original edition. Cancelling a plate is the best way an artist has to protect the value of the impressions in the official edition. - Usually impressions from cancelled plates are done by a dealer or printer to make additional money from a popular artist’s work. These later impressions are usually not the desire of the artist."[FN 25]
Edgar Degas died in 1917. The dead don't desire anything.
Then to go from bad to worse, the posthumous impressions from these Edgar Degas' canceled plates continued after Ambroise Vollard's death on July 21, 1939.
MADE BY FRANK PERLS GALLERY
The A & R Gallery, located in Birmingham, UK, who is offering for sale on their website a titled The Laundress impression attributed to Edgar Degas as an "Original Etching and aquatint, Fourth state, 1879/80," makes an astonishing admission on their website: "Our piece was made by Frank Perls Gallery of 350 N Camden Drive, Beverley Hills, California and was one of 26 etchings made in a limited edition at that time. These were printed by Lacouriere in Paris on Vieux Japan paper. The pieces from the small edition (quantity unstipulated) were made with the printers blindstamp but a number of additional printers proofs were made, of which ours is an example, without this blindstamp. The piece must be a rarity since it is hardly ever seen."[FN 26]
FRANK PERLS GALLERY OPENED IN 1939
Aside posthumous impressions are not etchings, much less limited, records in the Smithsonian Institution Research Information System documents the Frank Perls Gallery dates "from its opening in 1939 until its closure in 1981."[FN 27]
In other words, the posthumous impressions from his canceled plates by the Frank Perls Gallery began after 1939 some twenty-two years after Edgar Degas' death in 1917.
REPRODUCTIONS OF WORKS OF ART
Under the title “Reproductions of Works of Art” and documented as “adopted by the membership of the Association of Art Museum Directors [AAMD], January 1979; amended 2001, it states: “When advertising reproductions, museums should not use language implying that there is any identity of quality between the copy and the original or lead the potential buyer to believe that by purchasing any such reproductions, he or she is acquiring an original work of art.”[FN 28]
The dead don't create original works of art i.e. etchings.
CONCLUSION
Edgar Degas died in 1917. The ten so-called "sculptures in bronze" and "etchings" in the Denver Art Museum's February 11 to May 2018 Degas: A Passion for Perfection exhibition were posthumously cast and impressed after 1919 till as late as 1981, some 2 to 64 years after Edgar Degas' death in 1917.
Therefore, if the artist, living or dead, did not sculpt the object or print their etched image, they cannot be the author. If the artist is not the author, it cannot be an original work of visual art ie., sculpture or etchings attributable to them. This factual perspective is confirmed by U.S. Copyright Law 106 A, “The Rights of Attribution - shall not apply to any reproduction?”[FN 29]
Caveat Emptor!
FOOTNOTES:
1. © 1999 By West Group, ISBN 0314022864
2. Ibid
3. Viking Adult; 5 Rev Upd edition (May 31, 1991), ISBN-10: 0670837016, ISBN-13: 978-0670837014 [This fifth edition has been prepared by Steven Sheehan, Director of the Ralph Mayer Center, Yale University School of Art.]
5. Viking Adult; 5 Rev Upd edition (May 31, 1991), ISBN-10: 0670837016, ISBN-13: 978-0670837014 [This fifth edition has been prepared by Steven Sheehan, Director of the Ralph Mayer Center, Yale University School of Art.]
6. www.getty.edu
7. © 1998 National Gallery of Art ISBN 0-300-07517-0
8. Ibid
9. © ISBN 978-0-691-14897-7 National Gallery of Art, Washington, www.nga.gov
10. Ibid
11. Copyright © 2000 by High Museum of Art, ISBN 0-8478-2340-7
12. © 1976 by Princeton University Press ISBN 0-691-00318-1
13. © 2002 International Arts and The Torch Press ISBN 0-9716408-07
14. © 2017 The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge ISBN 978-0-300-22823-6 HB
15. 11.“A Statement on Standards for Sculptural Reproduction and Preventive Measures to Combat Unethical Casting in Bronze Approved by the CAA Board of Directors, April 27, 1974. Endorsed by the Association of Art Museum Directors and the Art Dealers Association of America.”
www.collegeart.org/caa/ethics/sculpture.html
Updated and Adopted by the Board of Directors on February 17, 2013.
16. © 1965 by Print Council of America, Library of Congress, Catalog Card Number: 65-24325, Seventh Printing, March, 1971
18. page 7, Jack Harold Upton Brown, A Guide to Collecting Fine Prints
19. http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#103
20. http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#106a
21. © 2017 The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge ISBN 978-0-300-22823-6 HB
22. http://www.spaightwoodgalleries.com/Pages/Degas.html
23. http://www.pasqualeart.com/degas/index.html
24. http://www.jdsmithfineart.com/degas_laundress_main.html
J D Smith Fine Art, Happy Valley, OR, USA, 97086
25. http://www.jdsmithfineart.com/question_cancelled_plate.html
What is a cancelled plate? Why do dealers sometimes sell etchings and lithographs printed from cancelled plates?
When an artist finishes printing the number of impressions they want of a work (the total edition size), they usually “cancel” the plate. To cancel the plate, they typically scribe noticeable crosshatch or “X” lines across the plate. These lines cross the image and will show up on any later impressions made from the plate. The lines indicate that any later impressions were not part of the original edition. Cancelling a plate is the best way an artist has to protect the value of the impressions in the official edition.
So then ... impressions from cancelled plates are bad, right?
The answer varies. Usually impressions from cancelled plates are done by a dealer or printer to make additional money from a popular artist’s work. These later impressions are usually not the desire of the artist. They are valued less than impressions from the official edition.
But they are not always “bad” or without value. Artists like Degas often produced very few impressions of a work before cancelling the plate. Later in life he gave about 20 cancelled plates to his dealer Ambroise Vollard for Vollard to publish an extended edition. Thus, the Vollard edition of Degas’ etchings from cancelled plates were the artist’s intent ... hence they are good. Since impressions of Degas’ prints from the pre-cancelled state of the plate are more rare, and therefore much more expensive, collectors often purchase impressions from the cancelled plates. For many of these Degas etchings, the cancellation marks are not very obtrusive.
26. http://www.art-art.co.uk/Degas.htm
Title: The Laundresses
Medium: Original Etching and aquatint , Fourth state,1879/80
Size: Plate size : 118 x 160 mms. Paper size 420 x 280 mms
Reference: Reed & Shapeiro Edgar (Degas, the Painter as printmaker) No 48, page 149, Delteil 37 ; Adhemar 32
Condition: In good condition with some creasing on the outer right hand side margins not affecting the image. Framed
1) A later striking from the cancelled plate showing cancellation marks 2)The subject matter, although unique in the artists oeuvre, does relate to other etchings from this period in the examination of space. The etching was made on a daguerreotype plate. The fourth state exhibits considerable scraping of the image, especially on the seated laundress, the chair, cat, stovepipe and wall to the left of the doorway. Only 8 impressions are known of this state. 3)Our piece as mentioned before comes from a cancelled plate. There were later impressions from cancelled plates made of some of this artists prints by the famous art publisher Ambroise Vollard but our piece is not one of those series. Vollard did include this print in the oeuvre in his edition of 120 on Japan Paper made in 1919/20 measuring 323 x 250 mms. His impressions are noted for being rather pale. For a discussion on those pieces see "Una Johnson 'Ambroise Vollard; Prints, books, bronzes' The Museum of Modern Art, New York, page 131, no 28. Our piece was made by Frank Perls Gallery of 350 N Camden Drive, Beverley Hills, California and was one of 26 etchings made in a limited edition at that time. These were printed by Lacouriere in Paris on Vieux Japan paper. The pieces from the small edition (quantity unstipulated) were made with the printers blindstamp but a number of additional printers proofs were made, of which ours is an example, without this blindstamp. The piece must be a rarity since it is hardly ever seen. Details of the edition were published in a scarce leaflet of which we have a copy entitled "Twenty six original copperplates engraved by Degas" . A copy of this work, if required, will be sold with the etching. In the forward Frank Perls states that the copper plates "are exhibited here for the first time. They were acquired by me recently from a friend of the Degas-Fevre family". Marguerite De Gas Fevre was the artists younger sister who he etched in 1860/62 (Delteil 17, Reed & Shapeiro 14 - included in the group).
Price £: 900
27. Smithsonian Institution Research Information System
28. Copyright 2001 by the Association of Art Museum Directors ( ISBN 1-880974-02-0 ) Address: 41 East 65th Street, New York, New York 10021
29. http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#106a
posted by Gary Arseneau at
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