EDGAR DEGAS (1834-1917)

“In dozens of charcoal drawings, pastels, and even sculptures, this angular averted figure towers over his pictorial repertory. Leaning forward to attend to her hair and dry her neck, the woman twists her back so that the side of her thighs and the breadth of her shoulders are simultaneously visible. The curiously flattened shape that resulted clearly fascinated the artist, offering an oblique structure that energized a number of major compositions.”
—Richard Kendall