Frequently used in drawing, pastel pencils first appeared around the 15th century. At the time, a paste was made out of colored pigments, glue, and gum Arabic, before adding to it milk or honey. The mixture was then given the shape a form of small cylindrical stick and left to dry.

Pastels were then mainly used to add a little color to [Read more]

Considered one of the first modernistic painters, Frenchman Paul Cézanne undertook, at the end of the 19th Century, an ambitious project to redefine painting. To do so, the artist completely withdrew to pursue his pictorial research without any external influences, then determined that it is the two dimensional aspect of painting which [Read more]

Born in Ireland, Paul Kane immigrated to Toronto (formerly called "York") with his family in the 1820's. During a stay in Europe where he deepened his knowledge of painting, he met the American George Caitlin, an artist famous for his portraits of Amerindian customs in the United States.

Caitlin claimed that it was vital to [Read more]

Born in 1863, in Paris, Paul Signac was first interested in architecture, before commencing his career in painting. He broadly traveled and composed many landscapes, before finally making a determining encounter.

In 1884, he became friends with Georges Seurat, and became one of his most fervent admirers. Soon, Signac rallied to his new [Read more]

Paul-Émile Borduas was a Quebecois painter, recognized as being the author of the "Total Refusal" manifesto and creator of many abstract works. As of the age of 15, he received artistic training from Ozias Leduc, who taught him the art of restoration and decoration of religious edifices.

He quickly proved himself to be [Read more]

Percussion instruments produce a sound when struck with another object. They serve generally to mark the rhythm of a melody, as many yield but a single tone.

Holding a dominating position in the music of certain primitive peoples, percussion instruments have been long frowned upon by western orchestras, while scholars see them merely as [Read more]