KOH-I-NOOR HARDTMUTH

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The history and use of GIOCONDA

oil pastels

Final masterpieces made with oil pastels are similar to the oilpaintings, they are lightfast and very resistant. The beginnings of the use of the predecessors of pastelscan be dated to the 15th century, when soft pastels and similar materials started to be widely used in studiesof drawing. The first old masters such as Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and Michelangelo used sanguine and inkfor their paintings. As time went by, they sought new materialsand techniques. The final step was the use of pastels. Italian painters of the cinquecento period can be consideredpioneers of the pastel technique. In their era, drawingbecame an obligatory part of painters’ studies. As a consequenceof the oncoming Baroque style, pastel was used more and more due to its unique softness and lightness. It wasused not only in drawing but consequently in painting as well. Wax aquarelle became a well known instrumentand in the Baroque era, it started to represent a full-valueartistic technique. This was thanks mainly to Venetian artistRosalba Carriera, an astonishing portraitist and figurativepainter. His contemporary and a perfect portraitist wasQuentin de La Tour, also using high qualities of pastels. He was known as the author of very beautiful portraits witha unique soft atmosphere, very similar to works paintedwith oil colours. Most of his paintings were maintainedthanks to the pastel technique. The period in the middleof the 18th century was rich for excellent portraitists. By the end of the 19th century, pastels started to be a matterof interest to the wider public, thanks mainly to a new artistic style, Impressionism. This new style found inspirationlife and nature. Artists applied colours one beside anotherand in fact erased the border between drawing and painting.Some used pastels for sketching their future oil paintings,others found in pastel a medium which suited them the most. One of the main representatives of Impressionismand a person who showed pastels to the wide public wasEdgar Degas. In his later works pastels prevailed absolutely.Other important artists of the Impressionist period wereDegas’s pupils Mary Cassatt, Boudin and Toulouse-Lautrec.The 20th century was rich for pastel artists as well. However,the most famous is Spanish painter Pablo Picasso. Whenhe was only 20 years old, he exhibited his pastel works in Barcelona with incredible success. His modernistic pastelswere specific with the application of colours in wide stripes.In his era, he made pastels as popular as in fact Degas did.Other important artists using pastels in the 20th century wereSpanish landscape artist Ramón Casas, as well as the astonishingdraftsman Francesco Serra who became famous due to hismasterly female figures, and many others.Pastels as a medium have helped with their fineness to maintain the unrepeatable magic of the moment and maybe,due to their great fragility, they enable the creation of otherwonderful artworks to those who are keen on this technique. KKOOHH -- II -- NNOOOORR HHAARRDDTTMMUUTTHH aa..ss..

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oil pastels 31.1.2007 10:52 Str. 1

KOH-I-NOOR HARDTMUTH

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The key components of the oil pastel cakes are waxes and white clay (kaolins). These components give the oil pastels, withthe addition of other additives, unsurpassable characteristics such as a silky stroke on paper. The colours are created by rich,top quality and perfectly dispersed pigments, carefully selected and purchased from renowned manufacturers around the world.Their light permanency and dosed concentration also has an impact on the final durability of the painter’s artwork. Due to thisreason a high concentration of colour pigment dosing is prescribed for this product throughout its colour range. The perfect mixture of all of these components gives the oil pastels an unmistakable smoothness and fineness. A high volumeof oily ingredients results in a great stroke of the pastels. The application of a thicker layer and overlapping of tones enablesmutual mixing, and consequently the creation of new colour tones, similarly as with oil or tempera colours. This can be enhancedby turpentine. Artworks created with this technique are more similar to oil paintings, they are lightfast and very resistant. The scratching technique is an option as well.Oil pastels 10 mm in diameter and 75 mm long represent a standard sized tool for artists. Unwrapped pastels can be alsoused flat to cover large areas.No component used in production contains toxic or otherwise harmful substances and the final product is therefore suitablefor all age categories.

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9920005001SF PPoopp DDrraaww ddrraawwiinngg ppaadd, white, sheet size A4, 180 g/m2

9920004001SF PPoopp DDrraaww ddrraawwiinngg ppaadd, white, sheet size A3, 180 g/m2

9920006001SF PPoopp DDrraaww ddrraawwiinngg ppaadd, white, sheet size 245 x 345mm, 220 g/m2

9920007001SF PPoopp DDrraaww ddrraawwiinngg ppaadd, white, sheet size 300 x 420 mm, 220 g/m2

9920008001SF PPoopp DDrraaww ddrraawwiinngg ppaadd, colour mix, sheet size 245 x 345 mm, 220 g/m2

9920009001SF PPoopp DDrraaww ddrraawwiinngg ppaadd, colour mix, sheet size 300 x 420 mm, 220 g/m2

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Printed representation of colours may not be exact.

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