Woman Drying her Arm 1884

Edgar Degas made this drawing, Woman Drying her Arm, using pastel on paper. Pastels are interesting because they are pure pigment, like what goes into paint, but they are held together in stick form with just a bit of binder. The powdery, almost fragile nature of the medium is very apparent. It is a direct way to apply color to a surface; Degas would have layered the pastels, smudging and blending them with his fingers to achieve the soft modeling of the woman’s body. You can also see the marks of individual strokes, giving the drawing a sense of immediacy. There is an intimacy to this drawing, but also a sense of distance, as the woman seems unaware of the viewer's gaze. Perhaps the beauty of this work lies in how Degas used something so simple as dry pigment to depict a fleeting moment.