164 Life, Times, and Work, London, 1985, p. 238) 50. Sander Gilman, "The Hottentot and the Notes writes: "A renunciation of statistically normal love Prostitute: Toward an Iconography of Female to Pages was perhaps a necessary condition for the cre- Sexuality," chap. 3 of his Difference and Pathology: 49-56 ation of this brilliant universe of looking." Richard Stereotypes of Sexuality, Race and Madness, Ithaca, Thomson (Degas: The Nudes, London, 1988, p. 101) 1985* Sigmund Freud's discussion of the "Wolf discusses the rumor that Degas was an inade- Man's" neurotic preference for women's posteriors quate lover, which Thomson thinks might explain appears in "From the History of an Infantile Neu- Degas's lack of attachment to any women: "It rosis" [1918] in Freud, Three Case Histories, New might also promote the related idea that he fre- York, 1963, pp. 227ff. quented brothels, as a convenient outlet for a frag- 51. Gilman, "The Hottentot," p. 90. ile sexuality without risk of humiliation, and that 52. Richard Sennett, The Fall of Public Man: the creation of images showing both the place and On the Social Psychology of Capitalism, New York, the means to satisfy such an appetite was perhaps 1976. some kind of substitute for the performance." 53. Carol Armstrong and I disagree on this 44. "X ... [Degas] vit comme un petit notaire issue (Carol M. Armstrong, "Duranty, Degas and et n'aime pas les femmes, sachant que s'il les the Realism of the Third Republic," paper pre- aimait et les b . . . [baisait] beaucoup, cerebrale- sented to the 1987 meeting of Nineteenth-Century ment malade, il deviendrait inepte en peinture. La French Studies, Northwestern University). Arm- peinture de X . . . est virile et impersonnelle juste- strong writes (p. 19): "The brothel monotypes . . . ment parce qu'il a accepte de n'etre personnelle- represent the most dramatic and thoroughgoing ment qu'un petit notaire ay ant un horreur de faire conversion of the physiognomic text of the body la noce. II regarde des animaux humains plus forts into a private spectacle of corporeal sensation and que lui, b . . . et b . . . , et il les peint bien, juste- gestural effect." ment parce qu'il n'a pas tant que £a le pretention de b . . ." (Vincent van Gogh, "Lettre 9," Lettres de Vincent van Gogh a Emile Bernard, Paris: Chapter 3: Testing the Limits Ambroise Vollard, 1911, p. 102, ellipses in origi- nal). I thank Carol Zemel for telling me about this EPIGRAPHS: (p. 89) Thorstein Veblen, A letter. The English translation is taken from "Let- Theory of the Leisure Class: An Economic Study ter to Bernard 614," Aries, August 1888, The of Institutions [1899], New York, 1931, pp. 181- Complete Letters of Vincent van Gogh, vol. 3, 82, emphasis added; (p. 93) Paris after Dark: Greenwich, Conn., 1958, p. 509. Night Guide for Gentlemen, i3th ed., Paris, n.d. 45. John Richardson, "The Late Picasso," (ca. 1870), p. 19; (p. 94) Georges Orison, Paris pp. 21—28; William S. Rubin and Milton Esterow, horrible et Paris original, Paris, 1882, pp. 296—97, "Visits with Picasso at Mougins," Art News 72, emphasis in original: "Car ce n'est plus la nuit, no. 6 (Summer 1973): 42—43; Pablo Picasso: Das le soir, d'allumage de gaz a onze heures que les he- Spdtwek, Themen 1964-1972, Christian Geelhaar ta'ires operent. C'est toute la journee. Ce n'est pas (ed.), Basel Kunstmuseum, 1971, pp. 44—52; Gert dans les quartiers exterieures qu'elles cherchent Schiff, Picasso, The Last Years, 1963-1973, New leur butin, c'est au centre le plus vivant de Paris. York, 1983, pp. 59 — 61; Pierre Cabanne, "Degas Passez done de midi a minuit sur le trottoir de chez Picasso," Connaissance des Arts 262 (Dec. gauche du faubourg Montmartre, — vous voyez 1973): 146—51; Christian Geelhaar, "Ausstellung que je precise, — vous rencontrerez vingt, trente, Picasso," Pantheon 36 (July/Aug./Sept. 1978): quarante filles, agees de quinze a dix-huit ans — il 288-89. y en a de douze! — en cheveux, decolletees, provo- 46. Schiff, Picasso, p. 59; Cabanne, "Degas chez cantes, ehontees, vous frolant du coude ou de Picasso," p. 147; Rubin and Esterow, "Visits with 1'epaule, vous barrant le passage en vous disant a Picasso," p. 42. haute voix des mots a faire rougir un carabinier. 47. Quoted in Schiff, Picasso, p. 61. D'ou sortent-elles? A leur allure il est facile de le 48. I am paraphrasing Bernheimer, "Degas's voir; elles marchent trainant les pieds, genees par Brothels," p. 170. les bottines a hauts talons dont elles n'ont pas 49. Richardson, "The Late Picasso," p. 25. 1'habitude, embarrassees par les corsets qu'elles ne