Danseuses à la barre
by Pierre Carrier-Belleuse

Pierre Carrier-Belleuse studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris under Alexandre Cabanel and the interior decorative artist Pierre Victor Galland. He started out as an oil painter and produced genre compositions, such as his Final Rendezvous. From 1885, however, he opted to work exclusively in pastel, producing a large number of sketches and portraits but always remaining faithful to his earlier genre compositions. Examples include Pierrot, Harlequin, Woman with Cat. The periodical Figaro Illustré published a large number of his sketches of dancers, a recurrent theme throughout his work.

From 1875, Pierre Carrier-Belleuse exhibited frequently at the Paris Salon, receiving an honourable mention in 1887 and being awarded a silver medal at the Exposition Universelle of 1889.

Museum and Gallery Holdings

Dunkirk: Dancer Adjusting her Shoe (pastel)
Gray: On the Dunes; In the Sun
La Rochelle: Dancer
Le Puy-en-Velay: Fantasy
Mulhouse: Mule's Bonnet
Paris (Municipal Collection): Tender Vow (pastel)
Versailles: Mirror (nude study)