Word: brard
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Degas never meant his wax studies to be seen. He doubted his own results wrote a friend at the time: "I never seem to achieve anything with my blasted sculpture." He often journeyed to the Hébrard Foundry on the outskirts of Paris to pick up pointers. In his lifetime, he exhibited only one statue, an awkward ballet rat dressed in a real gauze tutu and hair ribbon. But even this and a few other waxworks caused his friend Renoir to exclaim: "Why, Degas is the greatest living sculptor." Degas was not so sure, once remarked: "To be survived...
When death put an end to his indecision in 1917, nearly 150 uncast statues were found in his studio, half of them already broken. The rest were sent to the Hébrard Foundry to be cast after World War I. Twenty-two bronzes were made of each figure, but with such exquisite care that the originals survived unharmed. Such studies as Dancer Putting on Her Stocking (see cut), only 18 inches high, show what could have been lost. Working freely and using broken paintbrush handles and odd bits of wire for stiffening, the artist molded a quick study...
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