Prolegomena to Pastels & pastellists (original) (raw)
Related papers
Liotard's pastels: techniques of an 18th-century pastellist
Technology and Practice – Studying 18th century paintings and art on paper, CATS Proceedings, 2015
In 2007 the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam initiated a conservation and research project on framed pastels by the Swiss artist Jean-Etienne Liotard. For the first time, 21 pastels were unframed and available for documentation, examination and technological analysis. In order to reconstruct both his workshop practice and his palette, materials used by the artist were examined as well as his production process. The first results of this project are presented here with a preliminary palette of colours. Liotard's working methods were studied-from the supports to the application of colours-and then compared to various sources. The 1762 treatise on parchment making by Jérôme De La Lande, L'art de faire le parchemin, provided very interesting information on vellum support for pastel painting. Apart from the Traité des principes et règles de la peinture (1781) written by Liotard himself, the archives of his only pupil in pastel painting, Princess Karoline Luise von Hessen-Darmstadt, can be considered a unique and direct record of Liotard's practice.
Revival of pastel in late nineteenth-century Britain: the transience of a modern medium
2017
This thesis is the product of three years of research, writing and rewriting. This process would not have been possible without the keen support, guidance and specialist knowledge of several individuals. Firstly, I am indebted to my principal supervisor Dr Frances Fowle who has been a constant source of encouragement, constructive advice and information on all aspects of late nineteenth century art and culture. She has taught me to question my assertions, deepen my understanding and always aspire to improve. I would also like to thank my second supervisor, Professor Richard Thomson who was always on hand to offer a different perspective or a wise comment that pushed my research in a new direction. I have also received invaluable assistance from Roger Brown who introduced me to private collectors and unpublished resources on William Stott of Oldham. His extensive knowledge of this artist and keen appreciation of Stott's dexterity with pastel has made him an important sounding board for my research ideas. I have also received assistance from Professor Kenneth McConkey, Professor Anna Gruetzner Robins, Dr Patricia de Montfort and Professor Margaret MacDonald. I should also like to thank David Peters Corbett who served as my external examiner during my first-year review. His comments helped me to clarify my ideas and validate my arguments. I am also exceedingly grateful to the curators and individual collectors who took the time to show me the pastel works in their collections. In this group are Charlotte
Maurice-Quentin de La Tour and Jean Valade pastels: History, materials and studio practice
2017
In 2015, the conservation treatment of three French pastel portraits by Maurice-Quentin de La Tour and Jean Valade at the National Museum of Sweden gave the opportunity to study pastels by two leading 18th-century French pastellists from the golden age of pastels. Media, supports, mountings and framings were studied and materials analysed. The results obtained combining photographic techniques and elemental and molecular analyses are shown, discussed and related to their historical context as well as to contemporary bibliographic sources and other artists' practices. They provide new information about the artists' materials and working procedures.
A Newly Discovered Pastel by Charles Coypel
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. AN accomplished pastellist, Charles-Antoine Coypel (1694-1752) used the medium not just for finished works, but frequently as a preparatory step in developing his painted compositions. In a number of instances, the expressive heads of the major figures in his history paintings were first resolved in pastel on paper. Examples of this practice can be cited in connexion with Rinaldo abandoningArmida of 1725 ,' Joseph accused by Potiphar's wife of 1737 ,' and 77he sultan accompanied by his wives of c. 1752.3 Now, the discovery of a pastel head of Medea in the Metropolitan Museum, long sheltered under an incorrect, but understandable, 'A pastel head of a woman sold at Christie's, Monaco, 20thJune 1994, lot 88 (black, red, and white chalk, and pastel, on beige paper, 23.7 by 18.5 cm.) is closely related to the head of Armida in the Renaud abandonne Annide exhibited at the salon of 1725. no.45, pp.194-95, entry by Thierry Lefranqois. 'Four pastel studies of women in Turkish-style headdresses in a private collection, Paris, must have been made in preparation for a lost canvas painted for the crown in 1752, Le Grand Seigneur prenant du cafe au milieu de ses favorites, see T. LEFRAN9OIS, OP. cit. at note 1 above, nos.P.286-89 and P.294, pp.377-80. Another four are documented in the estate sale of Philippe Coypel; see LEFRANgOis, nos.P.290-93, p.379.
2021
Accompanying the exhibition at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (Legion of Honor, 2021-22), this essay offers a fresh understanding of the history and art of pastel. With the appearance of a painting, the immediacy of a drawing, and the timeless matte finish of an ancient fresco, the pastel is one of the most versatile media used throughout history. Told throygh the selection of works spanning five centuries, this exhibition features and discusses works from the Museum collection by Rosalba Carriera, Mary Cassatt, Edgar Degas, John Altoon, Wayne Thiebaud and many others. This essay discusses the evolution of pastel through examples by Bassano, Leonardo da Vinci, Picasso, Francesco Clemente.
Paper in Motion: Restoration, Conservation, Transmediation
Before the invention of electronic and digital media, paper was for many centuries the medium that registered, managed, and communicated data and information over the course of modernity. Although its arrival in the European shores of the Western Mediterranean dates to around the 11th century, its widespread use in Western and Northern Europe, and its subsequent development, roughly coincides with the general chronological scope of the PIMo COST Action (i.e. 1492 – 1923). Its pervasive presence during this period turned paper into the omnipresent medium that facilitated the conduct of many different disciplines and practices as it also became essential for the movement of people and ideas. This training school seeks to provide a few case studies in the history of this medium, as it also underlines the role it has played in the circulation of information, ideas, and people from the shores of the Mediterranean on to the North of Europe, and eventually the rest of the globe. Its geographical scope will take trainees from the Muslim Manuscripts of Turkish libraries and archives, onto the National Library in Florence, the remarkable collection of Hernando Colón in Seville—which was itself the result of massive Mediterranean and European shopping sprees—and it will finally end up by tracing the global dispersion of his books and catalogues, one of which ended up at the Arnamagnean Institute in Copenhagen. Many of these books and documents—in Turkish, Arabic, Latin, Italian, Spanish, and a great diversity of other languages—circulated not just throughout diplomatic and commercial networks. They were also set in motion by the displacement of individuals and communities who took with them the documents that gave them a legal identity and the texts that articulated and legitimized the existence of the communities—national, religious, linguistic, political, or ethnic—in which they belonged, and which were to a large extent part of their identity too. This training school will bring together scholars in the history of paper-based documents, in both manuscript and print, alongside experts in techniques for their conservation and restoration. A third group of trainers will teach seminars on the transmediation of these documents into digital e-texts. All these experts work in institutions—libraries, archives, universities—devoted to the study, care and conservation of these documents, many of which were produced in different periods, and above all in different places, frequently very distant from their current locations. The training school will look into the history of some case studies, will trace the paths these books and documents have followed over the course of their history, and examine how this has affected them in material terms. Trainees will attend workshops on traditional paper production techniques, methods and materials for the care and conservation of paper-based documents, and seminars on how their contents are turned into e-texts. In short, the training school offers a unique opportunity to learn about the history and background of these documents in motion, as they also acquire hands-on practical knowledge through close examination of particular case studies, against the overall background of the momentous transition we are undergoing from traditional paper-based means of communication on to electronic-digital media. Towards the end of the school trainees are expected to present a final essay on how the contents of its programme relates to their respective research projects. This essay—ideally, but not necessarily—illustrated with a relevant image, will be published in one of the project’s sections (e.g. Research in Progress, or Visual Reflections). They could even be videotaped as a brief chat and / or documentary to be uploaded to our YouTube channel. In general, trainees will be encouraged to contribute to some of our dissemination events.