Author Description

Degas's "rendering [of] movement" in his images of ballet dancers in painting, pastel, print, and sculpture is the subject of the focus exhibition Degas and the Dance at the Toledo Museum of Art (October 15, 2015-January 10, 2016), which brings together important loans from the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts, the Museum of Fine Art, both in Washington, D.C., and the Musée d'Orsay, Paris, along with works from the Toledo Museum of Art's own collection. Essays in this companion catalogue place Degas's images of the ballet in the context of the artist's overall philosophy of art and the social milieu of the Paris Opéra Ballet, and offer the perspective of a choreographer inspired to create a ballet based on Degas's work.