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Hilaire-Germain-Edgar Degas
French, 1834–1917
Self-Portrait
c. 1857–58
Degas made nearly forty self-portraits between 1854 and 1864. During this period, he traveled extensively in Italy, studying Old Master paintings and developing his own style. The artist approached self-portraits as a platform for experimentation and most remained in his studio until his death. In this image, Degas presents himself in a striking hat, white painting smock, and orange cravat. The delicate modeling of the face, much of which is in shadow, contrasts with the unpainted area in the bottom left corner.

Image Caption

Hilaire-Germain-Edgar Degas, Self-Portrait, c. 1857–58, oil on paper, mounted on canvas. Clark Art Institute, 1955.544
Medium
oil on paper, mounted on canvas
Dimensions
10 1/4 x 7 1/2 in. (26 x 19.1 cm) Frame: 16 3/8 × 13 3/4 × 3 3/4 in. (41.6 × 34.9 × 9.5 cm)
Object Number
1955.544
Acquisition
Acquired by Sterling and Francine Clark before 1955
Status
On View

Select Bibliography

Goldscheider, Ludwig. 500 Self Portraits. London: Phaidon Books. Paris: Musée des Arts Décoratifs.. Cinquante Ans de Peinture Française.. May 28-July 12, 1925.. J. B. Manson.. The Life and Work of Edgar Degas.. London: The Studio Limited.. 1927.. Marcel Guérin.. Dix-neuf portraits de Degas par lui-même.. Paris: M. Guérin.. 1931.. Paul-André Lemoisne.. "A Propos des Degas de la Collection de M. Marcel Guérin.". L'Amour de l'Art.. July 1931.. Paris: Musée de l'Orangerie.. Degas, Portraitiste Sculpteur.. 1931.. Philadelphia: The Pennsylvania Museum of Art.. Degas, 1834-1917.. 1936.. Georges P. F. Grappe.. Degas.. 1936.. Lemoisne, Paul-André. Degas et son oeuvre. Les Artistes et leurs oeuvres, études et documents. Paris: P. Brame et C. M. de Hauke, 1946. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Exhibit Five: French Paintings of the 19th Century. Exhibition catalogue. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1956. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Exhibit Ten: Degas. Exhibition catalogue. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1959. C., R. F. "Williamstown: Nuove opere alla Galleria Clark." Emporium 129, no. 770 (February 1959): 76-81. Spaeth, Eloise. American Art Museums and Galleries: An Introduction to Looking. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1960. John Canaday.. "Portraits: Self and Other.". The New York Times Magazine.. Nov. 13, 1960.. John Canaday.. Mainstreams of Modern Art.. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.. 1961.. Jean Sutherland Boggs.. Portraits by Degas.. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.. 1962.. Aymar, Gordon C. The Art of Portrait Painting. Philadelphia: Chilton Books,1967. Minervino, Fiorella, and Franco Russoli. L'Opera completa di Degas. Milan: Rizzoli, 1970. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1970. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Edgar Degas (1834-1917). Exhibition catalogue. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1970. Wilson, Ellen. An American Painter in Paris: The Story of Mary Cassatt. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux. 1971. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling & Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1972. . "Romantic Versus Classic Art." Film with Lord Kenneth Clark.. European Color Productions.. 1974.. Ackland Art Center, University of North Carolina. French 19th-Century Oil Sketches, David to Degas. March 5-April 16, 1978. 1978. Dunlop, Ian. Degas. New York: Harper & Row; London: Thames & Hudson, 1979. John Canaday.. Mainstreams of Modern Art, 2nd ed.. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.. 1981.. Brooks, John H. Highlights: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1981. . "Edgar Degas: Frauen und Ballet,". M3529E, no. 1.. Pan: Unsere herrliche Welt.. Jan. 1983,:pp. 7-21.. Jean Sutherland Boggs. "Edgar Degas og familien Bellelli.". Copenhagen: Ordrupgaard, Degas og familien Bellelli, May 11-June 24, 1983 (exh. cat.). Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1984. John Gaisford.. The Great Artists, Degas.. vol. 1, part 16.. London: Marshall Cavendish Partworks.. 1985.. Denys Sutton.. Edgar Degas: Life and Work.. New York: Rizzoli.. 1986.. Fernandez, Rafael, and Alexandra R. Murphy. Degas in the Clark Collection. Exhibition catalogue. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1987. Grand Palais, Paris.. Degas. Feb. 9-May 16, 1988; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, June 16-Aug. 28, 1988; Metropolitan Museum, New York, Sept. 27, 1988-Jan. 8, 1989. Israel Shenker.. "Of Spontaneity I Know Nothing.". Vol. 19, no. 7.. Smithsonian.. October 1988.. Gordon, Robert and Andrew Forge. Degas. New York: Abrams, 1988. Horst Keller.. Edgar Degas.. Munich: Bruckmann.. 1988.. Carol Armstrong.. "Reflections on the Mirror: Painting, Photography, and the Self-Portraits of Edgar Degas.". Representations.. Spring 1988.:pp. 108-141.. Deborah Schneider.. "Edgar Degas: A Perennial Theme.". vol. 4.. Equine Images.. (Summer 1989).. Tom Coates.. Creating a Self Portrait.. London: Mitchell Beazley.. 1989.. Trewin Copplestone.. Methods of the Masters: Degas.. London: Brian Trodd.. 1990.. Carol M. Armstrong.. Odd Man Out: Readings of the Work and Reputation of Edgar Degas.. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.. 1991.. Boggs, Jean Sutherland, and Anne Maheux. Degas Pastels. New York: George Braziller: 1992. Kern, Steven, ed. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1992. Emmanuel Starcky.. Rembrandt. rev. ed.. London: Studio Editions.. 1993.. Susan E. Meyer.. First Impressions: Edgar Degas.. New York: Harry N. Abrams.. 1994.. Kunsthaus Zürich. Degas Portraits. Dec. 2, 1994-March 5, 1995; Kunsthalle Tübingen, March 18-June 18, 1995. (Cat. by Felix Baumann et al.).. London: Merrell Holberton.. Roquebert, Anne. Degas. Milan: Fenice 2000. 1994. Fried, Michael. "Between Realisms: From Derrida to Manet." Critical Inquiry 21, no. 1 (Autumn 1994): 136. Scorer Associates.. Degas--The Old Man Mad about Art. BBC Omnibus.. BBC TV.. 1996.. Kern, Steven, et al. The Clark: Selections from the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. New York: Hudson Hills Press, 1996. Anonymous. "Nineteenth-Century Painting and Sculpture." The Magazine Antiques 152 (October 1997): 522–31. Michael F. Marmor and James G. Ravin.. The Eye of the Artist.. Philadelphia: Mosby-Year Book, Inc.. 1997.. Istituto Geografico De Agostini. Pittori & Pittura dell' Ottocento Italiano. Milan: Istituto Geografico De Agostini, 1999. New Orleans Museum of Art.. Degas and New Orleans: A French Impressionist in America.. May 1-June 30, 1999.. Copenhagen: Ordrupgaard.. Degas and New Orleans: A French Painter in America. Sept. 16-Nov. 28, 1999. Danish and French editions. Rubin, Susan Goldman. Degas and the Dance: The Painter and the Petits Rats, Perfecting Their Art. Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers. 2002:pp. 10-11, 30. Dumas, Ann. Degas and the Italians in Paris. Exhibition catalogue. Edinburgh: National Gallery of Scotland, 2003. Bomford, David, Sarah Herring, Jo Kirby, Christopher Riopelle and Ashok Roy. Art in the Making: Degas. Exhibition catalogue. London: National Gallery Company, distributed by Yale University Press. 2004. Cohn, Marjorie Benedict and Jean Sutherland Boggs. Degas at Harvard. Harvard University Art Museums and Yale University Press. 2005:p. 78 fig. 37. Conforti, Michael, et al. The Clark Brothers Collect: Impressionist and Early Modern Paintings. Exhibition catalogue. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute; New Haven: distributed by Yale University Press, 2006. Hofmann, Werner. Degas und sein Jahrhundert. Munich: Verlag C. H. Beck. 2007. Cowling, Elizabeth, and Richard Kendall. Picasso Looks at Degas. Exhibition catalogue. Williamstown, MA.: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute; Barcelona: Museu Picasso, 2010. Reynaerts, Jenny and Stella Versluis-Van Dongen. "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man: Edgar Degas Inspired by Rembrandt." The Rijksmuseum Bulletin 59, no. 2 (2011): 102133. Ganz, James A. and Richard R. Brettell. Great French Paintings from the Clark: Barbizon through Impressionism. Exhibition catalogue. New York: Skira Rizzoli Publications; Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 2011. Lees, Sarah, ed. Nineteenth-Century European Paintings at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute; New Haven and London: distributed by Yale University Press, 2012.

Provenance

Marcel Guérin, Paris (d. 1948); Daniel Guérin, Paris, his son, by descent, sold to Durand-Ruel, 20 April 1948; [Durand-Ruel, New York, sold to Clark, 20 April 1948, as Portrait de Degas au chapeau mou]¹; Robert Sterling Clark (1948–55); Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1955. 1. The invoice is dated 16 April 1948; payment was received on 20 April 1948.