Pastel
Techniques. Resources. Creative Processes. Genres
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Pastel
It is a drawing material that consists in a bar of pigment dissolved in resin or gum Arabic.
It is preferably applied on paper and it is chosen due to its qualities to achieve soft gradations of tones —something that facilitates a lot the shading, for example— or to make the line with definition, clarity.
It was already used in the Renaissance, only in black, white and terracotta color. It was preferred in the Rococo for its functionality for the elaboration of portraits. And it was important during the Impressionism, since it allows to work rapidly and smoothly, something ideal to capture the instant the artists of the time pursued.
The Impressionist Edgar Degas used this technique. The theme of dancers was recurrent in Degas’s work, and the use of pastel allowed him to achieve with energetic and fast lines better movement and grace effects, ethereal figures and color full of vital energy.
Image: Dancer Adjusting Her Sandal (1896). Edgar Degas.
Recommended links:
Edgar Degas and artificial light.
“Daylight is too easy. What I want is difficult: the atmosphere of lamps and moonlight.”
Characteristic Elements of Impressionist Painting.
Timeline: artistic movements from Neoclassicism till the end of the 19th century.
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