Considered by Jean Renoir to be the greatest living sculptor of his time, Edgar Degas exhibited only one statue during his lifetime--the incomparable Little Dancer, Aged Fourteen. The work met with mixed reception, labeled "vulgar" by the conservative and "quintessentially modern" by the avant-garde. Following the artist's death in 1917, about 80 works were rescued from his studio, and his heirs contracted with a foundry to case them in strictly limited editions, which have long since become prized pieces the world over. Documenting only four complete vintage sets of the bronzes, this lavishly illustrated catalog presents for the first time stunning color images of the sculptures together with archival photographs taken of the original models found in Degas's studio in 1917-18 and historic photographs taken 50 years ago by Leonard von Matt. Included also are reprints of essays written in 1921 by a contemporary of the artist, by John Rewald to accompany relatively early exhibitions of Degas's work in the 50s and 70s, and by contemporary art historians, as well as appendixes that include extensive exhibition, sales, and auction records, among other primary source materials.