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pastel
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alt=View of a woman from behind|thumb|William Merritt Chase, Study of Flesh Color and Gold, 1888, [[National Gallery of Art]] thumb|Maurice Quentin de La Tour, a bravura pastel portrait of [[Louis XV, 1748]]
Pastel is a drawing medium made from pigmented sticks that artists apply directly to paper or canvas to create images, often used historically for portraits and studies of color and form. It matters because it allowed artists like Maurice Quentin de La Tour and William Merritt Chase to produce vivid, detailed works that demonstrated the medium's capability to rival paintings in sophistication and visual impact.
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Article
15 sectionsContents
- Pastel media
- Manufacture
- Pastel supports
- Pastel on canvas
- Protection of pastel paintings
- Techniques
- Health and safety hazards
- Pastel art in art history
- Pastels
- See also
- References and sources
- References
- Sources
- Further reading
- External links
alt=View of a woman from behind|thumb|William Merritt Chase, Study of Flesh Color and Gold, 1888, [[National Gallery of Art]] thumb|Maurice Quentin de La Tour, a bravura pastel portrait of [[Louis XV, 1748]]
A pastel () is an art medium that consists of powdered pigment and a binder. 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 as oil paints; the binder is of a neutral hue and low saturation. The color effect of pastels is closer to the natural dry pigments than that of any other process.