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Degas, Dancers Resting

This week the MFA in Boston opens a beautiful new exhibit, “French Pastels, Treasures from the Vault” featuring work by Degas, Cassat, Monet, Millet, and more.  I’ve been working with the museum to develop the exhibit’s supplemental materials—paintings, papers, tools, and a set of landscape pastels donated by Terry Ludwig Pastels--to make the process and medium of pastel painting more accessible to visitors.  In preparation, I spent a day of pure joy getting to visit the museum’s vault, which felt a little like getting to go to Santa’s workshop at the North Pole, with magical treasures hidden in every nook and cranny.  

For the exhibit's 'art cart,' we wanted to show the variety of materials and techniques 19^th century pastelists were using, so I decided to take a simple idea (still life, three pears) and create three paintings ‘in the style of' several of the exhibit's artists:  Degas, Cassat and Millet.  The aim was to show how varied pastel can be through different approaches and styles.  

Mary Cassat, Study for The Banjo

That all sounded fine in theory, until I actually sat down to paint ‘like’ Degas and ‘like' Cassat…what had I agreed to?  What was I thinking?  Whose crazy idea was this anyway?  Then I settled down:  my job was to create an educational tool, I reminded myself, not a masterpiece.  The trick was to identify the defining features of their styles, and to apply them to new subject matter.  The process of creating three still lifes in the style of three different master pastelists became a real education for me. 

Millet, Primroses (detail)

If you’re looking to learn something more about an artist you admire, I’d recommend trying this yourself as an exercise.  The adage is true, it's one thing to look, quite another thing to do.  Close observation of style is not simply admiration: it's active and inquisitive.   To imitate a master's style, we need to know:  what colors are layered first? How are those strokes achieved? What unifies the color palette, and the shapes?  Where is the pigment heavy, and where thin?

Whether you are replicating exactly what you see by copying a master painting, or creating a new piece ‘in the style of’ another artist, clarity about style choices is key. The study of a master work puts the observer in the head of another artist, which cannot help but change one’s perspective.  And a fresh perspective is one of the most valuable ways to learn.

Here's the still life I started with, my own set up.

I chose a still life because (a) the subject matter was relatively simple; (b) since Cassat & Degas did mostly figures and Millet did mostly landscape, still life seemed like a good way to compare all three without favoring one.

For each version, I chose a ground surface and color typical for the artist, noted a couple of works as inspiration pieces, and got to work.  Each one demanded close and careful look at the artist's color choice, stroke size and direction, and many other minute decisions.  To lessen the intimidation factor, I made myself a list describing the key stylistic factors I noticed in each.

Jean-Francois Millet

I chose a mid-toned Canson paper for Jean-Francois Millet, who worked on mid-toned wove paper: a relatively smooth paper with a regular weave. Millet typically uses conte crayon with pastel, and his work has lots of cross hatching and line work.  Although much of his work is monochromatic and tonalist, several pieces in the show have rich bursts of green.

Three Pears, In the Style of Jean-Francois Millet

Edgar Degas

Degas worked on many kinds of surfaces and his experiments with grounds and fixatives are legendary.  He used many layers of crosshatched color, often with color complements, built up with layers of fixative.  Impasto from crushed pastel, pressed into the surface and heavily fixed, is also a feature.  I incorporated all of these in my “Degas” pears, done on a clay sanded paper.  The more I studied Degas' paintings, the more I discovered.  I've always enjoyed the almost limitless color combinations within value ranges that pastel allows:  Degas pushes to the limit, using turquoise next to peach and purple next to gold, all in unexpected places.  I had fun pushing both color, and the limits of what my paper would hold, with layers of Lascaux fixative, crushed pastel, and more crosshatching. 

Mary Cassat

Mary Cassat’s colors are similar to Degas, but her work feels more contemporary, looser, more open.  Her focal areas are often markedly more developed than outlying areas, and she often leaves dark charcoal drawing lines showing and the buff sanded paper is completely bare in some areas.  Perhaps my own confidence grew as this project developed, but these are my favorite pears of the three.  

Three Pears in the Style of Mary Cassat

I hope these sketches prove useful to MFA visitors during the next six months.   They were unexpectedly useful to me, as, for a short while, I got out of my own painting groove and tried painting in the style of three wonderfully different artists, trying on their palettes, their strokes, their methods.  It’s a great way to take a little vacation from your own perspective. 

Other MFA events: 

Curated Conversation,

Through a Painter’s Eye:  French Pastels, a curated conversation

I will be giving an hour long talk on the exhibit from a pastel artist's perspective on July 29; free with museum admission and no reservations needed.

July 29 2:00-3:00pm Sharf Visitor’s Center, MFA Boston

https://www.mfa.org/programs/gallery-activities-and-tours/through-a-painter80%99s-eye-french-pastels

Pastel Demonstrations at the MFA

I will also be doing two painting demonstrations at the museum in October:  Weds Oct 3 5:30-8pm, Sun Oct 7 12:00-3pm.  Both are drop-in and free.  Hope you can join me! More info to come.