Pastel

Apastel(US:/pæˈstɛl/) is anart mediumthat consist of powderedpigmentand abinder. It can exist in a variety of forms, including a stick, a square, a pebble, and a pan of color, among other forms. The pigments used in pastels are similar to those used to produce some other colored visual arts media, such asoil paints; the binder is of a neutral hue and lowsaturation. The color effect of pastels is closer to the natural dry pigments than that of any other process.
Pastels have been used by artists since theRenaissance, and gained considerable popularity in the 18th century, when a number of notable artists made pastel their primary medium.
An artwork made using pastels is called a pastel (or a pastel drawing or pastel painting).Pastelused as a verb means to produce an artwork with pastels; as an adjective it means pale in color.
Pastel sticks orcrayonsconsist of powdered pigment combined with a binder. The exact composition and characteristics of an individual pastel stick depend on the type of pastel and the type and amount of binder used. It also varies by individual manufacturer.
Dry pastels have historically used binders such asgum arabicandgum tragacanth.Methyl cellulosewas introduced as a binder in the 20th century. Often achalkorgypsumcomponent is present. They are available in varying degrees of hardness, the softer varieties being wrapped in paper. Some pastel brands use pumice in the binder to abrade the paper and create more tooth.
Dry pastel media can be subdivided as follows:
In addition, pastels using a different approach to manufacture have been developed:
There has been some debate within art societies as to what exactly qualifies as a pastel. The Pastel Society within the UK (the oldest pastel society) states the following are acceptable media for its exhibitions: "Pastels, including Oil pastel, Charcoal, Pencil, Conté, Sanguine, or any dry media". The emphasis appears to be on "dry media" but the debate continues.
In order to create hard and soft pastels, pigments are ground into a paste with water and a gum binder and then rolled, pressed or extruded into sticks. The namepastelis derived fromMedieval Latinpastellum"woadpaste," fromLate Latinpastellus"paste." TheFrenchwordpastelfirst appeared in 1662.
Most brands produce gradations of a color, the original pigment of which tends to be dark, from pure pigment to near-white by mixing in differing quantities ofchalk. This mixing of pigments with chalks is the origin of the wordpastelin reference to pale color as it is commonly used in cosmetic and fashion contexts.
A pastel is made by letting the sticks move over an abrasive ground, leaving color on the grain of the painting surface. When fully covered with pastel, the work is called a pastelpainting; when not, a pastelsketchordrawing. Pastel paintings, being made with a medium that has the highest pigment concentration of all, reflect light without darkeningrefraction, allowing for verysaturatedcolors.
Pastel supports need to provide a "tooth" for the pastel to adhere and hold the pigment in place.  Supports include:
Pastels can be used to produce a permanent painting if the artist meets appropriate archival considerations.  This means:
For these reasons, some pastelists avoid the use of a fixative except in cases where the pastel has been overworked so much that the surface will no longer hold any more pastel. The fixative will restore the "tooth" and more pastel can be applied on top. It is the tooth of the painting surface that holds the pastels, not a fixative. Abrasive supports avoid or minimize the need to apply further fixative in this way. SpectraFix, a modern casein fixative available premixed in a pump misting bottle or as concentrate to be mixed with alcohol, is not toxic and does not darken or dull pastel colors. However, SpectraFix takes some practice to use because it's applied with a pump misting bottle instead of an aerosol spray can. It is easy to use too much SpectraFix and leave puddles of liquid that may dissolve passages of color; also it takes a little longer to dry than conventional spray fixatives between light layers.
Glassine(paper) is used by artists to protect artwork which is being stored or transported.  Some good quality books of pastel papers also include glassine to separate pages.
Pastel techniques can be challenging since the medium is mixed and blended directly on the working surface, and unlike paint, colors cannot be tested on a palette before applying to the surface. Pastel errors cannot be covered the way a paint error can be painted out. Experimentation with the pastel medium on a small scale in order to learn various techniques gives the user a better command over a larger composition.
Pastels have some techniques in common with painting, such as blending,masking, building up layers of color, adding accents and highlighting, andshading. Some techniques are characteristic of both pastels and sketching mediums such as charcoal and lead, for example,hatchingandcrosshatching, andgradation. Other techniques are particular to the pastel medium.
Pastels are a dry medium and produce a great deal of dust, which can cause respiratory irritation. More seriously, pastels might use the same pigments as artists' paints, many of which aretoxic. For example, exposure tocadmium pigments, which are common and popular bright yellows, oranges, and reds, can lead tocadmium poisoning. Pastel artists, who use the pigments without a strong painting binder, are especially susceptible to such poisoning. For this reason, many modern pastels are made using substitutions for cadmium, chromium, and other toxic pigments, while retaining the traditional pigment names.All brands that have the AP LabelbyASTM Internationalare not considered toxic, and they might use extremely insoluble varieties of cadmium or cobalt pigments that will not be readily absorbed by the human body.Although less toxic when swallowed, they should still be treated with care.
The manufacture of pastels originated in the 15th century.The pastel medium was mentioned byLeonardo da Vinci, who learned of it from the French artistJean Perréalafter that artist's arrival in Milan in 1499.Pastel was sometimes used as a medium for preparatory studies by 16th-century artists, notablyFederico Barocci. The first French artist to specialize in pastel portraits wasJoseph Vivien.
During the 18th century the medium became fashionable forportraitpainting, sometimes in a mixed technique with gouache. Pastel was an important medium for artists such asJean-Baptiste Perronneau,Maurice Quentin de La Tour(who never painted in oils),andRosalba Carriera. The pastelstill lifepaintings and portraits ofJean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardinare much admired, as are the works of the Swiss-French artistJean-Étienne Liotard. In 18th-century England the outstanding practitioner wasJohn Russell. InColonial America,John Singleton Copleyused pastel occasionally for portraits.
In France, pastel briefly became unpopular during and after theRevolution, as the medium was identified with the frivolity of theAncien Régime.By the mid-19th century, French artists such asEugène Delacroixand especiallyJean-François Milletwere again making significant use of pastel.Their countrymanÉdouard Manetpainted a number of portraits in pastel on canvas, an unconventional ground for the medium.Edgar Degaswas an innovator in pastel technique, and used it with an almostexpressionistvigor after about 1885, when it became his primary medium.Odilon Redonproduced a large body of works in pastel.
James Abbott McNeill Whistlerproduced a quantity of pastels around 1880, including a body of work relating to Venice, and this probably contributed to a growing enthusiasm for the medium in the United States.In particular, he demonstrated how few strokes were required to evoke a place or an atmosphere.Mary Cassatt, an American artist active in France, introduced the Impressionists and pastel to her friends in Philadelphia and Washington.
According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art'sTime Line of Art History: Nineteenth Century American Drawings:
On the East Coast of the United States, the Society of Painters in Pastel was founded in 1883 byWilliam Merritt Chase, Robert Blum, and others.The Pastellists, led byLeon Dabo, was organized in New York in late 1910 and included among its ranksEverett ShinnandArthur Bowen Davies.  On the American West Coast the influential artist and teacherPedro Joseph de Lemos, who served as Chief Administrator of theSan Francisco Art Instituteand Director of theStanford UniversityMuseum and Art Gallery, popularized pastels in regional exhibitions.Beginning in 1919 de Lemos published a series of articles on "painting" with pastels, which included such notable innovations as allowing the intensity of light on the subject to determine the distinct color of laid paper and the use of special optics for making "night sketches" in both urban and rural settings.His night scenes, which were often called "dreamscapes" in the press, were influenced by FrenchSymbolism, and especiallyOdilon Redon.
Pastels have been favored by many modern and contemporary artists because of the medium's broad range of bright colors. Recent notable artists who have worked extensively in pastels includeFernando Botero,Francesco Clemente,Daniel Greene,Wolf Kahn,Paula RegoandR. B. Kitaj.