Before the Race (c. 1887–89): Art, History and Details

Before the Race (c. 1887–89) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Edgar Degas (French, 1834–1917).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Degas returned to the theme of horse and rider time and again throughout his career. Scholars believe that he executed the first version of this composition of four jockeys on horseback in a charcoal and pastel drawing. Several years later, he traced the composition, reversing its orientation to create the highly finished Cleveland pastel. The palette is intensified, the distance between the second and third jockeys is increased, and the foliage along the horizon has been added to suggest a lush spring day.

Object facts

• Title: Before the Race
• Date: c. 1887–89
• Creator attribution: Edgar Degas (French, 1834–1917)
• Culture: France, 19th century
• Type: Drawing
• Technique: pastel with charcoal underdrawing on tracing paper mounted on cardboard
• Dimensions: Sheet: 57.5 x 65.4 cm (22 5/8 x 25 3/4 in.)
• Collection: DR - French
• Department: Drawings
• Accession number: 1958.27

A detail from the museum

When creating the series to which this pastel belongs, Edgar Degas was inspired by the 19th-century photographer Eadweard Muybridge, who attempted to record motion in static images.

Collection credit

Bequest of Leonard C. Hanna Jr.

Further reading listed by the museum

• Hourticq, Louis. “E. Degas.” Art et Décoration 32, no. 2 (1912): 97-113.
• Lafond, Paul. Degas. Paris: H. Floury, 1918.
• Hertz, Henri. Degas. Paris: Félix Alcan, 1920.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.