Pencil on paper, 22.9 x 36 cm.
Musée d'Orsay, Paris.
The Vieil Abonné recorded the foibles, the remarks and the little habits of the dancers with the same affectionate indulgence. So we hear, for example, that the only distinguishing characteristic of Léontine Beaugrand was an inordinate love of chocolates, and how la petite Paillier was outraged when complimented by an admirer as looking like a Boucher, thinking that he was comparing her with a butcher. The Pretty Women of Paris was published in English in 1883, and describes itself on the title page as a ‘Complete Directory and Guide to Pleasure for Visitors to the City of Gaiety’.
The information offered about Parisian women is so comprehensive and so detailed that it cannot possibly have been compiled by one man. The tone throughout, though, is consistent - scurrilous, and often misogynistic. It gives the reader the impression of coming face to face with all the anonymous and faceless women who we find in Degas’ oeuvre, from star dancers to milliners and laundresses.
On the first page we encounter Ellen Andrée, who was the model for Degas’ Absinthe (p. 28). ‘She is a very pretty fair woman, whose artistic talents are small, although her body is in splendid proportion for such a tiny creature. Her principal lovers count among the artists of the capital, for whom she has often posed as model. She has been photographed in many poses, always without any clothing, and these studies from life are to be bought all over Paris for a small sum.