Exhibition of Degas works

New details of Degas works came to light with the exhibition of his sculptures. Here are the details:

Some museums have lined up to authenticate “amazing” find of lifetime plaster casts, but the leading experts refuse to comment

By Martin Bailey

The plasters as found in situ at the Valsuani Foundry in France (Copyright The Degas Sculpture Project Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Photo: Olivier
Brunet)

A secret battle is being waged over a previously unknown group of plasters of all Degas’ known sculptures that—if proved to be

genuine—would represent one of this century’s greatest art discoveries.
The cache was unveiled by dealer and sculpture specialist Walter
Maibaum, who runs the New York-based Modernism Fine Arts, in Athens on
27 November. But so far, the discovery has received little critical
analysis, despite widespread press coverage heralding the find. Behind
the scenes, the experts are divided: some believe the plasters to be
previously unknown lifetime casts, bringing us closer to Degas’
original sculptures. Others are convinced they were made in recent
decades.

The debate is likely to come out into the open when a newly cast bronze set goes on show at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art on 25 March. Financially,
much is at stake. The main group of 73 plasters is being used to cast
29 sets of bronzes, which are said to be valued at a total of more than
$500m.

Until now Degas’ sculptures have survived in three forms: wax originals, which he probably later reworked, and which were repaired shortly after his
death in 1917 (now mostly in the National Gallery of Art, Washington,
DC); a master (modèle) set of bronzes made in 1919 from the modified
waxes by the Hébrard foundry (now in the Norton Simon Museum,
Pasadena); and a series of Hébrard bronze casts made from the master
bronzes in 1919-36 and again in 1955-64 (dispersed among museums and
private collections).

What is new is the discovery of what are said to be lifetime plasters, made from the original waxes sculpted by Degas, before they were modified and
repaired. It is from these plasters that the new bronzes are being
cast, one set of which is currently on show at the Herakleidon Museum
in Athens (until 25 April). Established in 2004, it is a privately run
museum, with works by Toulouse-Lautrec, Escher and Vasarely. But the
show is not being taken as seriously as if it had been held in a long
established museum with an international curatorial reputation.