This landmark exhibition, appearing exclusively at the Portland Art Museum, explores the complex image of the dancer in the work of three artists intrigued by various manifestations of dance in fin-de-si猫cle Paris:
Edgar Degas (1834-1917),
Jean-Louis Forain (1852-1931), and
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901). The Dancer presents an international roster of more than 110 works of art, including rarely seen paintings, pastels, drawings, prints, and sculptures from collections in Europe and the United States. As cultural icons of fin-de-si猫cle Paris, the dancers, as well as their audiences, proved fascinating subjects for artists who sought to depict modernity. Decades later, not only do these remarkable works illustrate the differences in social classes between patrons and performers, and among the dancers themselves, but they evoke a sense of being a spectator of one of the favorite forms of diversion in turn-of-the-century France. The Dancer will include loans from the collections of many distinguished institutions, including the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the Kimbell Art Museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Mus茅e d鈥橭rsay, the National Gallery of Art, Washington, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, as well as from private collections in the United States, France, Spain, and the United Kingdom. The Portland Art Museum, in collaboration with Oregon Ballet Theatre (OBT), is pleased to offer special programming to accompany The Dancer and OBT鈥檚 French Program, and to enhance the visual and educational experience.