Dec 22, 2005 21:03
Oil pastels were invented in 1924 by the Japanese teachers Rinzo Satake and Shuku Sasaki to give pupils greater freedom to express themselves by means of a cheap, colorful and easily appliable medium.
In 1947, Henri Goetz and Pablo Picasso approached Henri Sennelier with the idea of designing a professional version of the children's product. Picasso told Henri, "I want a colored pastel that I can paint on anything, wood, paper, canvas, metal, etc. without having to prepare or prime the canvas."