美国国家公共电台 NPR Versatile, Smudgy, Suitable For Women? Exhibition Traces The History Of Pastels

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

The word fugitive¹ is in the air at the National Gallery of Art in Washington - on the walls too. It's not a show about someone running from the cops. It's a show about an artistic² medium that's hard to pin down. NPR special correspondent Susan Stamberg explains.

BOB MONDELLO, BYLINE³: Where are you going?

SUSAN STAMBERG, BYLINE: NPR's esteemed⁴ arts critic, the always inquisitive⁵ Bob Mondello.

I'm going to the National Gallery.

MONDELLO: For?

STAMBERG: Pastels.

MONDELLO: Boring.

STAMBERG: Au contraire, Mr. Mondello, this exhibition of pastels - it's called the "Touch Of Color" - isn't at all boring. Maybe because we got stubby pieces of chalk in kindergarten, we grow up to think pastel is not much of a medium. But the 64 examples from the National Gallery's own collection demonstrate why artists have always loved it.

PAUL RICHARD: If you were commissioned to paint a portrait of some prosperous person, if you were going to do it in oil, they had to come to your studio.

STAMBERG: Former Washington Post art critic Paul Richard tells pastel's advantages over oil paint.

RICHARD: You had to have stinky solvents⁶ around so you could clean your brushes. You had to wait till one little passage of the painting dried sufficiently⁷ so you could add another or - pastels are a lot easier.

STAMBERG: You could work quickly. And pastel sticks - a blend of colored pigment⁸, chalk and a binder-like gum - pastels are portable, carried around easily. But, says Kaywin Feldman, National Gallery director, they're hard to exhibit.

KAYWIN FELDMAN: They're very rarely loaned from other museums or to other museums because the medium is so very delicate.

STAMBERG: It smudges. The chalk's powdery colors are fugitive. They don't stick to one place very easily. Degas, the great French pastelist - yes, it's a noun - fixed⁹ his colors with casein, basically skim milk. Those glorious ballerinas, racehorses, nudes¹⁰ were lactose tolerant. Artists have used anything, even hairspray, to hold powdery pastel onto the paper. The sticks produced pale, pale colors, lots of white mixed in, and intense colors that made fabrics¹¹ look rich and gorgeous. Also...

STACEY SELL: It was perfect for flawless human skin.

STAMBERG: Curator Stacey Sell.

SELL: And in fact, some art historians have pointed¹² out that some of the materials and pigments¹³ that are present in pastel were also present in human cosmetics¹⁴ at the time.

STAMBERG: Carmine¹⁵, for instance, a bright red pigment used in rouge¹⁶ and pastel. Skin on the bare back of a woman in William Merritt Chase's 1888 "Study Of Flesh Color And Gold" sheds its own light. It almost glows.

SELL: It's one of my favorite things in the entire exhibition. The modeling on this woman's back is so beautifully subtle. And it really shows off that soft, velvety¹⁷ texture¹⁸ that we've been talking about. It's just absolutely seamlessly blended.

STAMBERG: Chase, Degas, Manet, Matisse, more contemporary artists like Jasper Johns - all pastel fans. Mary Cassatt and several other women used the chalky sticks to draw women in fancy hats, women making art. Curator Sells says pastels were once thought to be especially appropriate for women.

SELL: People considered it easier to learn to use than oil painting. They thought it was simpler. They considered it cleaner. There's one theorist who said it was better for women to use because they wouldn't soil their fair hands the way that they would with oil paint.

STAMBERG: In fact, pastels have been gender-friendly throughout the ages, as you can see until the end of January at the National Gallery. The exhibition is called the "Touch Of Color." And you want to touch the works, dying to touch them. But, nuh-uh (ph).

SELL: Pastel appeals to our sense of touch in a way that no other drawing medium really does. I mean, you want to reach out and touch this velvety surface. And at the same time, you know that it would ruin exactly what you're admiring.

STAMBERG: As French philosopher Paul Desjardins put it in 1889, pastel is the lightest, most fugitive of techniques, like the pollen¹⁹ of a lily or the dust from a butterfly's wing that an artist scatters²⁰ and fixes on the paper.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TURQUOISE")

JOAN BAEZ: (Singing) In the pastel shades of sunlight I have wandered.

STAMBERG: In Washington, I'm Susan Stamberg, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TURQUOISE")

BAEZ: (Singing) I know I've tasted the essence in those few...

1 fugitive   

adj.逃亡的，易逝的；n.逃犯，逃亡者

参考例句：

• The police were able to deduce where the fugitive was hiding.警方成功地推断出那逃亡者躲藏的地方。
• The fugitive is believed to be headed for the border.逃犯被认为在向国境线逃窜。

2 artistic   

adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的

参考例句：

• The picture on this screen is a good artistic work.这屏风上的画是件很好的艺术品。
• These artistic handicrafts are very popular with foreign friends.外国朋友很喜欢这些美术工艺品。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 esteemed   

adj.受人尊敬的v.尊敬( esteem的过去式和过去分词 )；敬重；认为；以为

参考例句：

• The art of conversation is highly esteemed in France. 在法国十分尊重谈话技巧。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He esteemed that he understood what I had said. 他认为已经听懂我说的意思了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 inquisitive   

adj.求知欲强的，好奇的，好寻根究底的

参考例句：

• Children are usually inquisitive.小孩通常很好问。
• A pat answer is not going to satisfy an inquisitive audience.陈腔烂调的答案不能满足好奇的听众。

6 solvents   

溶解的，溶剂

参考例句：

• It is resistant to borohydride reduction in alcoholic solvents. 在醇溶剂中，它不能被硼氢化物还原。
• Strains require special treatments for removal such as spotting with organic solvents. 要清除这些着色物质，需要特殊处理，例如：滴加有机溶剂。

7 sufficiently   

adv.足够地，充分地

参考例句：

• It turned out he had not insured the house sufficiently.原来他没有给房屋投足保险。
• The new policy was sufficiently elastic to accommodate both views.新政策充分灵活地适用两种观点。

8 pigment   

n.天然色素，干粉颜料

参考例句：

• The Romans used natural pigments on their fabrics and walls.古罗马人在织物和墙壁上使用天然颜料。
• Who thought he might know what the skin pigment phenomenon meant.他自认为可能知道皮肤色素出现这种现象到底是怎么回事。

9 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

10 nudes   

（绘画、照片或雕塑）裸体( nude的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He also drew Chinese opera figures, nudes and still lives. 他还画戏曲人物画、裸女、瓶花静物等。

11 fabrics   

织物( fabric的名词复数 )； 布； 构造； （建筑物的）结构（如墙、地面、屋顶）：质地

参考例句：

• cotton fabrics and synthetics 棉织物与合成织物
• The fabrics are merchandised through a network of dealers. 通过经销网点销售纺织品。

12 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

13 pigments   

n.（粉状）颜料( pigment的名词复数 )；天然色素

参考例句：

• The Romans used natural pigments on their fabrics and walls. 古罗马人在织物和墙壁上使用天然颜料。 来自辞典例句
• The original white lead pigments have oxidized and turned black. 最初的白色铅质颜料氧化后变成了黑色。 来自辞典例句

14 cosmetics   

n.化妆品

参考例句：

• We sell a wide range of cosmetics at a very reasonable price. 我们以公道的价格出售各种化妆品。
• Cosmetics do not always cover up the deficiencies of nature. 化妆品未能掩饰天生的缺陷。

15 carmine   

n.深红色，洋红色

参考例句：

• The wind of the autumn color the maples carmine.秋风给枫林涂抹胭红。
• The dish is fresh,fragrant,salty and sweet with the carmine color.这道菜用材新鲜，香甜入口，颜色殷红。

16 rouge   

n.胭脂，口红唇膏；v.(在…上)擦口红

参考例句：

• Women put rouge on their cheeks to make their faces pretty.女人往面颊上涂胭脂，使脸更漂亮。
• She didn't need any powder or lip rouge to make her pretty.她天生漂亮，不需要任何脂粉唇膏打扮自己。

17 velvety   

adj. 像天鹅绒的, 轻软光滑的, 柔软的

参考例句：

• a velvety red wine 醇厚的红葡萄酒
• Her skin was admired for its velvety softness. 她的皮肤如天鹅绒般柔软，令人赞叹。

18 texture   

n.(织物)质地；(材料)构造；结构；肌理

参考例句：

• We could feel the smooth texture of silk.我们能感觉出丝绸的光滑质地。
• Her skin has a fine texture.她的皮肤细腻。

19 pollen   

n.[植]花粉

参考例句：

• Hummingbirds have discovered that nectar and pollen are very nutritious.蜂鸟发现花蜜和花粉是很有营养的。
• He developed an allergy to pollen.他对花粉过敏。

20 scatters   

v.（使）散开， （使）分散，驱散( scatter的第三人称单数 )；撒

参考例句：

• He scatters money about as if he were rich. 他四处挥霍，好像很有钱。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Truth raises against itself the storm that scatters its seeds broadcast. 真理引起了反对它自己的狂风骤雨，那场风雨吹散了真理的广播的种子。 来自辞典例句