Seated Nude

Like Edgar Degas's Nude (Drying Herself), this photograph of a woman putting on stockings shares the specific theme, the awkward intimacy, and the formal compositional qualities of some of his drawings and paintings of women in various stages of undress. Degas, a bachelor, showed a strong curiosity about the private, everyday rituals women perform--bathing, dressing, and ironing. Yet he would have had few opportunities to candidly observe a woman in this position. Scholars are uncertain whether Degas posed an artist's model in his studio or actually took his camera to a brothel.