Pastel in 18th-Century Europe

This seminar focuses on the practice of pastel in eighteenth-century Europe. Known for its luminosity and fragility—two characteristics linked to its powdery essence—as well as for its practicality, pastel as an artistic medium reached an unprecedented popularity in the eighteenth century. While some painters used it on occasion (Jean-Siméon Chardin, Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, John Singleton Copley, to name a few notable examples), others made it their medium of choice, including Rosalba Carriera, Jean-Étienne Liotard, and Maurice-Quentin de la Tour, three of the most sought-after artists of the period. This seminar will examine these dazzling works, many of them portraits but not exclusively, from different perspectives: technique, artists’ manuals, and trade in materials; makeup and the aesthetic discourse; vision and touch; color and the rendition of skin tones; the construction of artistic identity; art criticism; and the commission, collecting, and display of pastels. The seminar will include at least two museum trips, including one to the Frick Madison where the exhibition Nicolas Party and Rosalba Carriera is currently on view.