Nude Woman with Towel, Standing

Nude Woman with Towel, Standing by Edgar Degas, created between 1891 and 1892, is a masterful example of late 19th-century French lithography. This sophisticated print captures an intimate, unposed moment in a woman's toilette, continuing a subject Degas explored extensively through pastels and various print media during this decade.

Degas utilized the unique tonal capabilities of the lithograph process, working the stone to achieve rich, velvety blacks and nuanced gradations of gray that define the figure’s substantial form and the heavy folds of the towel. The emphasis is less on classical idealization and more on the candid depiction of a real body caught in an everyday, fleeting gesture, a characteristic feature of Degas’s focus on modern Parisian private life.

Produced late in his career, this exploration of printmaking underscores Degas’s commitment to experimentation outside traditional fine art mediums. His shift to lithography allowed him to study composition through contrast and texture, enhancing the immediacy of the scene. The work exemplifies the intense artistic activity in France during the 1890s, where artists increasingly utilized reproduction techniques to disseminate images. Today, the high quality of these original prints ensures their lasting reference value. This specific impression is held in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art, and high-resolution images of such important works are often made available through public domain initiatives for researchers and collectors worldwide.