Chapter 7 : The pastels of degas

“I would like some soft pastels in a range of browns,” requested Degas, who must have visited the store on Quai Voltaire during the 1900s. At this time, Degas – in contrast to his peers –, preferred to stay in his studio, and had, in effect, left oils for pastels. “Soft pastels al- lowed Degas to work fast and to go from one color to another without having to wait for them to dry or having to change brushes. His style is like a sketch; his strokes are light and transparent, letting the background show in places. He works generally on an unprimed canvas or with just a wash of distemper. He is very demanding of the texture of his pastels, experimenting before determining the correct mixture of pigment and binder from which to make his sticks,” explains the art writer Susie Hodge. Raw Umber and Burnt Sienna enabled Degas to darken the shadows and bring out, for example, the clarity of a dancer’s skin, or the transparent white of a tutu. Inspired by Degas, Gustave Sennelier developed a range of 700 different soft pastel tones, a range that he baptized “à l’écu,” with a logo that was inspired by gold coins minted under the reign of Louis Ix, a symbol of great value. In this new range, the first 30 colors would be the browns created for Degas.According to the P.Richard's Book