There are many myths about the artist Edgar Degas--from Degas the
misanthrope to Degas the deviant, to Degas the obsessive. But there is
no single text that better stokes the fire than Degas and His Model, a
short memoir published by Alice Michel, who purportedly modeled for
Degas.
Never before translated into English, the text's original publication in
Mercure de France in 1919, shortly after the artist's death, has been
treated as an important account of the master sculptor at work. We know
that Alice was writing under a pseudonym, but who the real person behind
this account was remains a mystery--to this day nothing is known about
her. Yet, the descriptions seem too accurate to be ignored, the
anecdotes too spot-on to discount; even the dialogue captures the
artist's tone and mannerisms.
What is found in these pages is at times a woman's flirtatious
recollection of a bizarre "artistic type" and at others a moving attempt
to connect with a great, often tragic man. The descriptions are limpid,
unburdened; the dialogue is lively and intimate, not unlike reading the
very best kind of gossip, with world-historical significance. Here in
these dusty studios, Degas is alive, running hands over clay,
complaining about his eyes, denigrating the other artists around him,
and whispering salaciously to his model. And during his mood swings, we
see reflected the model's innocence and confusion, her pain at being
misunderstood and finally rejected. It is an intimate portrait of a
moment in a great artist's life, a sort of Bildungsroman in which his
model (whoever she may be) does not emerge unscathed.
