Richard Kendall on Degas at the Norton Simon

I have seen Richard Kendall on a number of art documentaries, and I’ve got his Degas and the Dance book. So, I was thrilled to see he would be giving a talk at the Norton Simon Museum. I made a special trip to hear his lecture on The Little Dancer Aged Fourteen, and it was well worth it. Kendall was  marvelous in person, fascinating and engaging. At the end of the talk he took questions, and I asked about the color of the original beeswax version Degas showed at the Sixth Impressionist Exhibition. I was shocked to hear the original was likely not the bronze-looking wax of today, but something nearer to flesh. It would have looked, as Kendall put it, ‘quite spooky’.

The lecture focused on Degas’ radical approach, rather than the recent theories involving Darwinism, prostitution, etc. (though I maintain there is still something distinctly malevolent in her little face).

An article from the Wall Street Journal about Richard Kendall

And my favorite, beloved art documentary in which he is prominently featured: The Impressionists: The Other French Revolution.