ArtPage Art Dictionary

cconté crayon and Conté Crayon - The common name and the trademark or brand name for a drawing medium comparable to colored chalk. The manufacturer labels each stick "Conté a Paris."

 

Conté crayons are available in several colors. Although boxes of see thumbnail to rightassorted colors are available, several colors have been popularly sold in quantity. Most common are see thumbnail to leftred-brown (called sanguine, French for blood), dark-brown (called bistre), black, grays, and white (pictured below).

 

(pr. KAHN-tay KRAY-on)

 

 

Examples of drawings made with conté crayon:

 

 

 

 

 

 

see thumbnail to leftLéopold Boilly (French, 1761-1845), Grimacing Man (Self-Portrait), c. 1822-23, conté crayons on paper, collection of Karen B. Cohen. See caricature, expression, and Neoclassicism.

 

 

see thumbnail to rightGeorges Seurat (French 1859-1891), Stone Breakers, Le Raincy, c. 1881, conté crayon on paper, 12 1/8 x 14 3/4 inches (30.8 x 37.5 cm), Museum of Modern Art, NY. See gradation and Neo-Impressionism.

 

 

see thumbnail to leftGeorges Seurat, Study for 'Les Poseuses', c. 1887, conté crayon on paper, 11 11/16 x 8 7/8 inches (29.7 x 22.5 cm), Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY.

 

 

 

see thumbnail to rightHarrison Fisher (American, 1877-1934), Zelda Fitzgerald (1900-1947), sanguine conté crayon on paperboard, 1927, National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC. Zelda was the wife of writer F. Scott Fitzgerald.

 

see thumbnail to leftFernando Casas (Bolivian-American, 1946-), La Palabra Esencial, 1986, sanguine conté crayon on paper, 58 x 84 inches (147 x 213 cm). See oil pastel.fercasas@rice.edu

 

 

 

see thumbnail to rightJason Gathorne-Hardy (British, contemporary), Study of Sow's Head II, Iken, Suffolk, 2002, conté crayon on paper, 15.2 x 20.3 cm (6 x 8 inches), sold by Redfern Gallery in 2004.

 

 

Related Links:

 

 

 

 

Also see crayon, sepia, and stump.

 

 

 


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