Before the Race
c. 1887–89
Edgar Degas
Edgar Degas (French, 1834–1917)
Drawings
Before the Race, c. 1887–89. Edgar Degas (French, 1834–1917). Pastel with charcoal underdrawing on tracing paper mounted on cardboard; sheet: 57.5 x 65.4 cm (22 5/8 x 25 3/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Bequest of Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. 1958.27 Degas returned to the theme of horse and rider time and again throughout his career. Scholars believe that he executed the first version of this composition of four jockeys on horseback in a charcoal and pastel drawing. Several years later, he traced the composition, reversing its orientation to create the highly finished Cleveland pastel. The palette is intensified, the distance between the second and third jockeys is increased, and the foliage along the horizon has been added to suggest a lush spring day. When creating the series to which this pastel belongs, Edgar Degas was inspired by the 19th-century photographer Eadweard Muybridge, who attempted to record motion in static images.
- Maker/Artist
- Degas, Edgar
- Classification
- Drawing
- Formatted Medium
- pastel with charcoal underdrawing on tracing paper mounted on cardboard
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 57.5 x 65.4 cm (22 5/8 x 25 3/4 in.)
- Inscribed
- Inscription: signed, lower right, in black pastel: Degas
- Departments
- Drawings
- Accession Number
- 1958.27
- Credit Line
- Bequest of Leonard C. Hanna, Jr.
- Exhibitions
- Works of Edgar Degas, In Memoriam: Leonard C. Hanna, Jr., Creativity in Art and Science, 1860-1960, Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art, Time Stands Still: Muybridge and the Instantaneous Photography Movement, Monet to Dalí: Modern Masters from the Cleveland Museum of Art, Treasures on Paper from the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art, Pure Color: Pastels from the Cleveland Museum of Art, Nineteenth-Century French Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art, <em>Exposition du pastel français du XVIIe siècle à nos jours</em>. André J. Seligmann, Paris (November 18–December 9, 1933)., <em>Masterpieces of Art, New York World’s Fair</em>. New York (May–October, 1940)., <em>A Loan Exhibition of Degas for the Benefit of the New York Infirmary</em>. Wildenstein, New York (April 7–May 14, 1949)., <em>Edgar Degas: Pastelle, Ölskizzen, Zeichnungen</em>. Kunsthalle Tübingen (January 14–March 25, 1984); Nationalgalerie Berlin (April 5–May 20, 1984).
- Rights Statement
- CC0
- Museum Location
- 101A Prints & Drawings
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