"A fascinating hybrid...of art history and art appreciation, a personal narrative that reads like a novel...quixotic, but also magical." --
The New Yorker "[Laurens's] curiosity is contagious, and after reading this elegant pas de deux between the author and her elusive subject, you will surely look at Degas's celebrated tutu-clad ballerina with fresh eyes...moving...Laurens's artful achievement is to make us see the person behind Degas's famous sculpture." --NPR
"Fascinating...part historical chronicle, part artfully discursive personal response and part imaginative close reading of the sculpture's past and present...full of thought-provoking insights and revelations." --
Washington Post "[A] short, erudite investigation into the story behind Degas's masterpiece...[Laurens] provides a glimpse into the art world of 19th-century Paris." --
Wall Street Journal
"Compelling...[Laurens] animates this fascinating book by drawing on her capacious imagination, her own love of ballet, and her curiosity about the fate of Degas's model." --
National Book Review "The essence of late nineteenth-century art: Famous man paints nameless woman, her body and image becoming a mantle upon which his notoriety hangs. Who were these women? Typically, no one cares. So it's refreshing to see an author like Camille Laurens who does." --
Huffington Post
"[Laurens] spins a compelling and tragic tale of poverty, power, and the arts that raises questions about the artist's responsibility to his subject." --
Booklist (starred review)
"Well-researched...intriguing...Laurens's fascination with her subject brings this universally recognized piece of art to life." --
Library Journal "
Little Dancer Aged Fourteen illuminates a slice of art history with ravishing acuity...a fascinating tour through the past." --
Foreword Reviews "Laurens vividly sketches out a history of the abuses of child labor in Paris in the 1880s...insightful
."
--Kirkus Reviews "A disturbing and enigmatic story...[Laurens's] book is a meditation on an artist and his forgotten model, forever linked to him through one creation." --
Columbus Dispatch "An evocative tribute to a model, a man, and a moment. Sensitive, human, and profound, this vivid recreation of the sights, sounds, and smells of the nineteenth-century art world is underpinned by solid research, and written in a style which is assured and decisive." --Catherine Hewitt, author of
Renoir's Dancer: The Secret Life of Suzanne Valadon "[Laurens] is one hell of a writer. More than the facts, it's an era that she reconstructs, the harshness of which brings a lump to your throat." --
Elle (France)
"This fascinating book is...a mirror in which we see our conception of art and of beauty." --
Le Magazine Littéraire "Camille Laurens [evokes], through the story of this model plucked from the gutter, a period in which art unsettled the hypocrisy of a society." --
Le Figaro