Description
In Girl Putting on Her Stockings, Edgar Degas observes a seated nude turning toward a bent knee. The hand, leg and curved bedding make a close arrangement beneath the patterned wall. The practical action shapes the figure, rather than the figure being arranged for display. A small private task becomes enough to give the body a specific posture and the composition a clear reason for being.
Made in 1876–77, the work is a monotype printed in black ink. The process gives its dark and light passages a different character from the repeated lines of an etching. Degas’s subject and method both favor immediacy, allowing an everyday movement to become an image of striking economy. The focus remains on what the figure is doing, with the act of putting on stockings supplying both its structure and its quiet narrative.
Read our guide to giclée prints or browse the Edgar Degas collection.
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