Arabesque Devant

Edgar Degas

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Throughout his life, Degas made sculptural studies of dancers from unorthodox materials, such as wax, clay, and wire. Following his death, his heirs had these studies cast in bronze. While the majority of Degas’s dance sculptures represent figures caught in awkward transitions from one position to another, this work is notable for the dancer’s stable pose.

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The fifty thousand objects in the Museum's comprehensive and historically important collection of European sculpture and decorative arts reflect the development of a number of art forms in Western European countries from the early fifteenth through the early twentieth century. The holdings include sculpture in many sizes and media, woodwork and furniture, ceramics and glass, metalwork and jewelry, horological and mathematical instruments, and tapestries and textiles. Ceramics made in Asia for export to European markets and sculpture and decorative arts produced in Latin America during this period are also included among these works.

Metropolitan Museum of Art