“Young Woman with a Fan,” a painting from the early 1750s by Pietro Antonio Rotari, will be among the pastels in the Getty Museum’s new 18th century-centric exhibition. (photo courtesy of The J. Paul Getty Museum)

The J. Paul Getty Museum presents Eighteenth-Century Pastels, an exhibition that explores the popularity of pastels across eighteenth-century Europe and showcases their striking physical properties. Presenting works from the Getty Museum collection along with four loans, the exhibition is on view at the Getty Center through Feb. 26.

By the mid-18th century, pastels reached an unprecedented peak of popularity and acclaim. The dry, satiny pigments, manufactured in sticks of every hue, were portable and allowed for swift execution—allowing artists to essentially “draw” a painting.

“Working with pastels differs greatly from painting with oils, which require cumbersome equipment, long sittings and extensive drying times,” said Emily Beeny, curator of European paintings at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and former associate curator of drawings at the Getty Museum. “Their relative ease and portability made pastels an especially desirable medium for traveling artists seeking to expand their portfolio with portraits.”

Pastelists were often very mobile, traveling far and wide in search of commissions. The artists and sitters represented in Eighteenth-Century Pastels hail from Austria, England, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and the Netherlands – a testament to the Pan-European nature of the pastel phenomenon.

Eighteenth-Century Pastels highlights works from the Getty Museum collection by Jean-Étienne Liotard, John Russell and Rosalba Carriera, among others. The exhibition also includes recently acquired works by Adélaïde Labille-Guiard and Pietro Antonio Rotari, as well as seldom-seen works by Cornelis Troost on long-term loan from the Mauritshuis in the Netherlands.

With standout pieces like Rotari’s Young Woman with a Fan and Liotard’s Portrait of Maria Frederike van Reede-Athlone at Seven Years of Age, the pastels in this exhibition will entrance audiences with their rich hues and ethereal quality.

“Featuring works by many of the most talented pastel portraitists of the age, this exhibition is a sumptuous feast for the eyes,” said Ellie Bernick, graduate intern at the Getty Museum and co-curator of the exhibition. “Plus, the exhibition features several works by female pastelists like Adélaïde Labille-Guiard, Rosalba Carriera and Mary Hoare, exemplifying the important role the medium played in bringing women artists into the profession.”

The Getty Center is open Tuesday-Sunday, 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. On Saturday, the museum is open until 8 p.m. It is closed Mondays.

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