Translated elegantly from French by Willard Wood, the book recounts what is known about the sculpture’s model, Marie van Goethem, a laundress’ daughter who was eventually fired from the… ...

"Little Dancer," a sculpture by French artist Edgar Degas, is seen at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., on July 16, 2014. Nikki Kahn/The Washington Post via Getty Images hide caption ...

Edgar Degas, Little Dancer Aged Fourteen, plaster cast possibly 1920–21, after original wax modeled 1878–81.Courtesy of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

The best Degas exhibitions take you past the prettiness and straight to the heart of weirdness that makes his work, despite overexposure, always worth further effort. "Degas' Little Dancer," a one ...

Climate activists targeted the renowned “Little Dancer Aged Fourteen” sculpture when they smeared its glass case and pedestal with black and red paint Thursday that left onlookers stunned.

Degas had announced that “Little Dancer” would be included in the fifth Impressionist exhibition of 1880, yet the show opened without it. Anticipation increased when, ...

Degas’s most famous sculpture, “Little Dancer Aged Fourteen,” is seen by many today as a romantic icon of the ballet. But when the work was first exhibited, in Paris in 1881, it was ...

After Degas’ death in 1917, his heirs decided to bring the “Little Dancer” a little respectability. They made at least 30 bronze copies, which made their way to the world’s top museums.

She isn’t very pretty and she certainly isn’t unique. Edgar Degas’ “Little Dancer, Aged Fourteen” -- a 4-foot-tall statue of a ballerina, complete with a muslin tutu and satin hair ...

Ballerina Marie Van Goethem started modeling for Edgar Degas around 1878 and inspired his statue Little Dancer Aged Fourteen. But history lost track of her after she left the Paris Opera.

“Little Dancer, Aged Fourteen,” Degas’ most famous work and one of the iconic sculptures of the 19th century, is part of a collection of 49 bronzes, ...