Junior Milliners (Petites modistes), 1882. Edgar Degas. Pastel on beige, medium weight, wove paper wrapped onto original cardboard mount. Purchase: acquired through the generosity of an anonymous donor.
With luscious strokes of pastel, Edgar Degas portrays a hatmaker's (or milliner's) workroom. Two women stand absorbed in creating beautiful objects with the craft of artists. Degas delighted in depicting their materials: coarse straw, velvet ribbons, and fluffy ostrich feathers. The title, Petites Modistes, indicates that the women are junior assistants, no longer apprentices and not yet the lead hat trimmer or the shop owner herself.
