Study for a Portrait of Mathilde Salle 1887 - 1920

This bronze head, Study for a Portrait of Mathilde Salle, was made by Edgar Degas, who seems to be searching for a face through touch. Look how the light glances off of every lump and hollow! I wonder about Degas and his process as he worked on this portrait. Maybe he started with a vague image, adding and subtracting clay, coaxing a likeness out of the material. What was he trying to capture? Was he trying to find a likeness of his subject, or something else entirely? The roughly worked surface makes me think about Rodin, another sculptor who wasn’t afraid of a little mess. But Degas is also interested in something more traditional: the human face. By letting the process be visible he's really opened up this space where many thoughts and feelings can emerge, for us as viewers but maybe also for himself. That's why artists keep making things – it's like a conversation that never ends, across time, across studios, across materials.