Item Details:

THE BALLET LESSON

IMPRESSIONISM, 1905

Oil Pastel on Board

Size: 38.5 x 30.0 in; 97.79 x 76.2 cm

Signed: Recto, lower left

Louis Kronberg (1872–1965) was an American figure painter, art dealer, advisor, and teacher. Among his best-known works are Behind the Footlights (Pennsylvania Academy, Philadelphia) and The Pink Sash (Metropolitan Museum, New York). Kronberg was born in Boston on December 20, 1872. He studied at the Boston Museum School, under Edmund C. Tarbell and Frank Weston Benson, where he earned a Longfellow Traveling Scholarship. Kronberg also studied at the Art Students' League, New York, and at the Académie Julian (1894–1896) under Jean-Paul Laurens and Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant, and privately with Raphaël Collin. In Paris, Kronberg became enamored with the works of Edgar Degas and proficiently painted ballet and Spanish dancers within theatre settings.Although Kronberg is considered a "Tarbellite" because he trained with Tarbell and Benson, he was highly influenced by the French Impressionists and especially the pastels and oils of ballerinas painted by Degas. His work shows the influence of his French training — his compositions are good and his colors soft and harmonious, yet with decided contrasts. His best work was executed prior to 1915 before he became nearsighted.