La Maison du Pastel

[Hermes2020]

I came across this interesting video today and just had to share it.

 

[Donna T]

Thanks for this Hermes. A lot of work goes into making those beautiful sticks.

 

[Artyczar]

Wow!

 

[stlukesguild]

Love the video. I never thought I'd give up the sensuality of oil paints for pastels but I found I loved the almost fresco-like surface it could achieve... and like Degas, I loved the fact that it combined color with drawing.

I was lucky enough to see a show of Jean-Étienne Liotard's work in the Frick a good many years back. Both the paintings and the pastels were stunning. I especially loved his "Chocolate Girl":

Pastels start with the Rococo period that Liotard worked in... but the first artist to use pastels almost exclusively was Rosalba Carriera.
She created some splendid pastel portrait paintings:

Major Rococo painters such as Boucher...

... and Chardin also used pastels a great deal.

However, IMO pastels really came into their own with the period of Impressionism and Post Impressionism... especially with Degas and Redon. The pastels of the Rococo period are not very much discernible from the paintings of the era. Degas and Redon take advantage of the aspects unique to pastels and experimented with various ways of applying the medium.

 

[Enyaw]

Hermes,
I watched the video and it was cool about the cooking. I never knew pastels gave such a fine finish but I must agree with stlukesguild. I think Renoir is unmatched. It's the broken color that captivates me.

 

[Hermes2020]

I am happy to see the positive responses to the video.

 

[Nerys]

Their pastels are super(b) , very pretty and very expensive.

 

[stlukesguild]

Damn! 3 times the price of Sennelier... and that doesn't include shipping to the US.

 

[snoball]

Terry Ludwig's pastels are not exactly what I would call cheap either.

 

[Nerys]

Prices pastels open stock for light colors 16.00 euro, mid colors 18.00 euro dark colors 20.00 euro. https://lamaisondupastel.com
The darkest Bengal Rose is beautiful.