The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 19, 2024

Conversation: Ludovic Halévy and Madame Cardinal (The Conversation) for "La Famille Cardinal" by Ludovic Halévy

Conversation: Ludovic Halévy and Madame Cardinal (The Conversation) for "La Famille Cardinal" by Ludovic Halévy

c. 1880–83
(French, 1834–1917)
France, 19th century
monotype
Platemark: 21.3 x 16 cm (8 3/8 x 6 5/16 in.); Sheet: 25.5 x 17.8 cm (10 1/16 x 7 in.)
Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland in honor of Henry Sayles Francis 1967.167
Catalogue raisonné: Janis 46
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

Ludovic Halévy once co-authored a play, La Cigale, in which one of the characters was clearly based on Edgar Degas.

Description

This print comes from a series of more than 30 monotypes that Degas planned as illustrations for La Famille Cardinal by the artist’s friend Ludovic Halévy. The satirical stories revolve around two young dancers at the Opéra, Pauline and Virginie Cardinal, and their procuress mother. In late 19th-century Paris, the ballet was the profession of lower-class girls and young women who were available for sexual hire. Here, in the opening scene, Halévy, the first-person narrator, meets with Madame Cardinal in the coulisses (wings) of the Opéra to arrange for a private rendezvous with one of her daughters. The dancers, whose sexual availability is the subtext of the composition, are conspicuously absent.
  • Pickvance, Ronald. Degas 1879. Exh. Cat. Edinburgh: National Gallery of Scotland, 1979. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 69, no. 80
    Sutton, Denys. Edgar Degas: Life and Work. New York: Rizzoli, 1986. Mentioned: p. 190; Reproduced: p. 191, pl. 175
    Brown, Kathryn. "Intimacy and Exclusion: Degas's Illustrations for Ludovic Halévy's La Famille Cardinal." In Perspectives on Degas, ed. Kathryn Brown. New York: Routledge, 2017. Mentioned: p. 185; Reproduced: p. 186
    Brown, Kathryn. "An "Anti-spectacular" Art." In Degas: A Strange New Beauty. Jodi Hauptman, 122-135. New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 2016. Reproduced: p. 124, fig. 1
  • Degas at the Opera. Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France (organizer) (September 23, 2019-January 19, 2020).
    Monotypes: Painterly Prints. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (May 31-October 11, 2015).
    Mary Cassatt and the Feminine Ideal in Nineteenth-Century Paris. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (October 14, 2012-January 20, 2013).
    The Dancer: Degas, Forain, and Toulouse-Lautrec. Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR (organizer) (February 2-May 11, 2008).
    Edgar Degas: Six Friends at Dieppe. Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI (organizer) (September 16, 2005-January 15, 2006).
    Inventive Impressions: 18th- and 19-Century French Prints. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 26-October 28, 2001).
    Degas Monotypes. Ordrupgaard (organizer) (October 13, 1994-January 15, 1995).
    Generous Donors: A Tribute to The Print Club of Cleveland. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 2-August 4, 1991).
    The Private Degas. Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (January 20-February 28, 1987); Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge CB2 1RB (March 17-May 3, 1987).
    Urban Vicissitudes. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 2-September 29, 1985).
    Monotypes. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (March 3-July 5, 1981).
    Degas 1879. National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (organizer) (August 13-September 30, 1979).
    Degas 1879. National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh (August 13 - September 30, 1979).
    The Print Club of Cleveland, 1919 - 1969: Fifty Years in Review. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (January 14-March 31, 1970).
    Year in Review: 1967. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 29-December 31, 1967).
  • {{cite web|title=Conversation: Ludovic Halévy and Madame Cardinal (The Conversation) for "La Famille Cardinal" by Ludovic Halévy|url=false|author=Edgar Degas|year=c. 1880–83|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1967.167