Edgar Degas

On Stage III

Maker

Edgar Degas (French, 1834-1917)

Title

On Stage III
Sur la Scène

Year

1876-1877

Medium

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

Materials

soft-ground etching

Supports

Dimensions

Image/plate: 9.9 x 12.7 cm (3 7/8 x 5 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Signed, on plate, at ll: Degas. Recto:numbered in pencil in LL:D.32

Marks: Unidentified collector mark in purple ink on verso.

Identification

State

v/v

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Gift of the Fazzano Brothers

Object Number

84.198.1083

Type

Publications

Exhibition History

Altered States
Etching in Late 19th-Century Paris
Jun 30, 2017 – Dec 03, 2017

Label copy

This image of a ballet performance was created by applying softened ground on the plate, into which Degas imprinted textured materials and drew, through paper, with a variety of pointed and broad-tipped tools, leaving crayon-like markings. Afterward, he used a roulette-a textured wheel-to make the patterns of regular dots seen throughout the backround.

Degas used nontraditional materials not only for printing plates but as etching tools. Around the time this print was made, he experimented with a double-pointed pen used by accountants, a wire brush, an emery stone, and the carbon rod used in electric arc lamps, among other tools.

Edgar Degas
Six Friends at Dieppe
Sep 16, 2005 – Jan 15, 2006

Image use

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Public Domain This object is in the Public Domain and available under a CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication

Tombstone

Edgar Degas (French, 1834-1917)
On Stage III; Sur la Scène, 1876-1877
Soft-ground etching, drypoint, and roulette on cream-colored, slightly textured laid paper
Image/plate: 9.9 x 12.7 cm (3 7/8 x 5 inches)
Gift of the Fazzano Brothers 84.198.1083

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