Little Dancer
Presented for the first time at the sixth impressionist exhibition in 1881, it was the first sculpture, and the last, that edgar degas would exhibit in public.
The sculpture was not well received. In fact, when she first appeared, "critics protested almost unanimously that she was ugly." (Laurens) Camille laurens draws connections between the dancer's perceived "ugliness" and that of 19th century views of criminality in her book, Little Dancer Aged Fourteen. "a typology of criminals was devised that considered a working-class man to be 'depraved from the cradle'" She writes, "A barbarian under restraint, and the slums were thought to be a breeding ground for jailhouse stock." (Laurens)
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The face of the Little Dancer "undeniably has some of the features identified by the phrenologists and medical anatomists of the day as typically criminal: a sloping forehead, a protruding jaw, prominent cheekbones, thick hair." (Laurens) When attempting to grapple with the sheer lack of humanity toward the petite rats, it's important to understand how the public typically viewed the impoverished girls who attended this ballet school.
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Source(s):
Laurens, Camille. Little Dancer Aged Fourteen. Les Fugitives, 2017.
Further reading
Here are some great articles on this topic
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The True Story of the Little Ballerina Who Influenced Degas’ “Little Dancer”
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The Story Behind Degas 'Little Dancer' is Disturbing, but Not In The Way You Might Expect
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Dickens and the Criminal Class
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