The Work

This bronze sculpture has the unusual aspect of being dressed in fabric, tulle and satin. The original version was in wax, and this bronze version was cast around 1920, after the artist’s death. It portrays a real person, Marie van Goethen, who was a student in the School of Dance at the Paris Opera. Her feet are in the “fourth position,” and the thinness of her legs and facial features reveals her youth.

French embassy