Degas at the Opéra, Portraits of Friends, on the Stage, 1879

KAYWIN FELDMAN: The man leaning on his umbrella at left is Ludovic Halévy, a writer of both fiction and texts for operas, or librettos. Perhaps his best-known libretto was the one he co-wrote for composer Georges Bizet’s opera, Carmen. You are hearing music from it now. SFX MUSIC KIMBERLY JONES: Halévy, of course, not only was Degas’s friend, but he was very much his entrée into the backstage world. He introduced him to a number of musicians, composers, dancers. So he is absolutely instrumental in helping Degas to develop those connections and enter into that world and get to know it intimately in a way that the average visitor would not have had opportunity to. KAYWIN FELDMAN: The other figure is slightly hidden from view, bisected by the wooden frame of a stage flat. He wears a similar dark overcoat and top hat. This was, of course, standard dress for men at the time. We’ll see it in several paintings that depict opera subscribers or season ticket holders. These were wealthy gentlemen who, because of their subscriptions, were allowed to lurk backstage and interact with the dancers. KIMBERLY JONES: This figure, in other times, becomes very ominous and rather predatory. That’s not so much the effect here, but one does wonder if Degas isn’t maybe tweaking Halévy just a little bit, intimating that he is part of that world, even if he is not necessarily one of its more predatory members. KAYWIN FELDMAN: In the adjacent studies of Halévy you get a sense of Degas’s working methods, as he constantly revised figures, looking for just the right lines. Paper conservator Kimberly Schenck: KIMBERLY SCHENCK: In these three studies, Degas rubbed out some of the charcoal lines and redrew them. In the figure in the right sketch, you can see the changes in the coattail and then on the left, you can see these dark, bold lines in the front of the figure. KAYWIN FELDMAN: Once he found the line he liked, Degas would use the sketches in other works. He would first trace them, possibly flipping or reversing the direction as necessary, and then insert them into different compositions. See if you can spot Halévy, or similarly attired subscribers, in other works in this show.