Degas Etchings Coup For Yorkshire Gallery

Etchings of ballerinas and bathers by Degas - at least five of which were shown at the Impressionist Exhibition in Paris 1877 - can be seen in Ripon from 8th September

The exhibition, called Degas Danse Dessin, at 'the gallery' in Kirkgate, features 26 works by the artist, who was one of the greatest of painter printmekers. The images come from a folio, limited to 335 copies, published in 1936 to accompany a book on the artist by Paul Valery. The folio was published by Ambroise Vollard, the foremost Parisian art dealer of the 20th Century. Degas (1834-1917) made sketches in his studio, the cafes and backstage at the Opera. These were only the starting points; he would make repeated tracings on the page, refusing to consider anything finished. The etchings on display at 'the gallery' until October 3rd give an insight into the artist's struggle to achieve perfection. Paul Valery sometimes vistied Degas in his studio in lower Montmartre. Valery wrote "he would take me into a long attic room with a wide bay windo (not very clean) where light and dust mingled gaily. The room was pell-mell - with a basin, a dull zinc bathtub, stale bathrobes, a dancer modelled in wax with a real gauze tutu in a glass case, and easles loaded with charcoal sketches." Vollard, who made money by buying art from the modernists when they were unfashionable and selling them to adventurous collectors such as Gertrude Stein, used his fortune to publish fine prints and books. Because Valery and Vollard respected and admired Degas they published the "Degas Danse Dessin" (Degas Dance Drawing) etchings in 1936, some 19 years after the artist's death. Anna Arcdiacono of 'the gallery' said: "It is rare to find a selling exhibition of works by Degas outside of London, so we are delighted that we are able to offer 26 works of such high-quality here in Ripon." Future exhibitions include 17th and 18th century Roman Architecture etchings of antiquities, runins and fountains of Rome by master-printmaker Giovanni Battista Piranesi, as well as Bonaventura Van Overbeke and Givanni Battista Falda, opening October 6th and a Christmas show of works by artists including Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall, William Nicholson and Clare Leighton on Novenber 3rd. Yorkshire Post August 30th 2006