Girl Resting Her Chin on Her Hand

Chihiro’s pastel drawings were made only during the year of 1970. Pastel is a medium consisting of rough pigment powder formed into a bar using a small amount of Arabic gum or other adhesive substance, and Chihiro used pastels not to fill in color but rather to draw lines. For Chihiro, who at the time disliked having her pictures appear compactly constructed, pastel was not well suited for creating details. As such, she used the medium only to form shapes and figures, forgoing any focus on providing fine details. In this portrait of a girl, drawn without any initial sketching, the pastel lines have been kept to a minimum and descriptive details almost entirely omitted. Even the outlines of the girl’s head and face have been omitted, yet the viewer is able to discern these shapes from the positioning of her eyes and hands.