Louis Kronberg (Boston, 1872 - 1965, Palm Beach)
In the Dressing Room, 1910
Pastel on canvas, 60 x 49 cm (23 5/8 x 19 5/16 in.)
This vertical pastel drawing shows a ballerina in her dressing room tying her pointe shoe. The ballerina has light skin, and brown hair pulled back into a bun at the nape of her neck. She wears a turquoise ribbon around her neck. She is wearing a full white tulle tutu adorned with pink rosebud appliques above the hemline and a larger pink rose applique at the waist. She stands on her left foot, to the viewer’s right, with her foot turned out. The ballerina twists her body toward the viewer’s left, where her right foot rests on a partially visible chair and she leans over to tie her pink pointe shoe. Pastel strokes in shades of pale green create the wall in the background. A gold-framed painting in the upper corner to your left is partially visible. Light pours in from the large window on the wall to your right, and creates a shadow of the figure on the reddish carpet. A full-length drapery adorns the window at its far side. In the lower left corner is the artist’s signature.
Yellow Room
Commentary
Isabella and her friend, artist Louis Kronberg, shared a love of the stage. Kronberg painted many performing artists including this Parisian ballerina lacing up her shoes. Mrs. Gardner collected several of Kronberg’s paintings and works on paper and displayed them in the Museum. Kronberg also assisted Isabella in acquiring several works by French artists including Edgar Degas and Édouard Manet.