In her statuettes of solitary female figures, Vonnoh explored the rhythm of movement and the play of drapery over forms. "Girl Dancing" presents a fashionable young woman in a high-waisted gown stepping forward in a bowing posture. This dancer may possibly be part of a quadrille, a dance popular in the nineteenth century that was performed by couples in a square formation. The statuette is in keeping with the genteel turn-of-the century expectation that well-bred women occupy themselves by reading, playing music, or dancing.
Credit: Rogers Fund, 1906
1897; cast c. 1906
Bronze
35.6 x 30.5cm
06.305
Image and text © Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2019
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The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Permanent collection