Art: Degas in Wax

"I must learn a blind man's trade," French Impressionist Edgar Degas said sadly toward the end of his life. Faced with rapidly failing eyesight, he turned increasingly to sculpture in wax as the one remaining form left for him in his life in the twilight. Last week 69 of Degas' original wax statues, preserved over the years by a French foundry and only recently come to light, were for the first time on display at Manhattan's Knoedler Gallery.

Encased in the wax forms is the same magic world of ballet dancers, women bathing and race track studies of jockeys and thoroughbreds...

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