Art History: The Origins of 7 of Your Favorite Art Supplies

Although we call the writing part of a pencil the "lead," it’s actually made of graphite. In fact, the name graphite comes from the Greek graphein, which means "to write." The trusty pencil we know today was only made possible by the discovery of an unusually pure deposit of graphite in England in 1564. Artists’ pencils come in a range of hardness, depending on how much clay is used to bind the graphite. Pencil drawing and sketching became popular in the 17th and 18th centuries, although usually to make preliminary lines for pieces in other media. Now many artists produce finished drawings solely from pencil.

Painting on easels was the obvious alternative to painting on walls. Easels are thought to have been used as early as ancient Egypt; the first written depiction of an easel was by Pliny the Elder in the 1st century. In the 13th century easel painting became more popular than wall painting.

The ancestors of the pens we know today were the brush used by the Chinese for writing (1st millennium BC), reed pens used by the Egyptians (circa 300 BC), and quill pens or pens made of bird feathers (7th century or earlier). Metallic pens and pens with metallic nibs were developed in the mid-19th century. They didn’t have a reservoir of ink in them, and had to be dipped in inkwells. Fountain pens, which don’t have to be dipped in ink constantly, date to 1884. Ballpoint pens didn’t come into vogue until the 1930s or 40s, and the soft-tipped pens we use today weren’t commercially available until the 1960s. Most pen-and-ink drawings done before the 20th century were produced with reeds or quills. Some famous artists that favored pens were Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Rembrandt, and Vincent van Gogh.

Paintbrushes are one of the earliest art supplies. They were used as early as the Paleolithic Period. Examples can be seen in caves in Spain and France and in early Egyptian tombs. Paintbrushes have been made of animal fibers such as hog bristles or horsehair, and more modern brushes are made of nylon fibers, polyethylene, or even wire.

Until quite recently it was believed that oil painting had originated in Europe in the 11th century. In 2008 it was discovered that oil paints (extracted from natural sources) had been used in cave paintings in Afghanistan in the 7th century. By the end of the 16th century oil paints had become the medium of choice for many artists, especially in Italy.

Pottery is one of the world’s oldest art forms, and having a wheel makes it both easier and more challenging. The latter was especially true of early pottery wheels (which probably originated some 5,000 years ago or more), which had to be turned by hand—or foot. "Fast wheels" rotated on heavy stones, by kicking or by pushing with a stick. The dexterity involved in coordinating hand and foot movements with these wheels was considerable. By the 18th century some potters were employing small boys to turn their wheels. Thankfully, mechanical pottery wheels were invented in the 19th century. Today’s pottery wheels are usually electric.

The history of the crayon is difficult to pin down. The basic composition of a crayon—wax with pigment—can be traced back thousands of years to Ancient Egypt and Greece. The idea of a crayon, however, might be better traced to chalk and pastels, which were known as early as the 16th century. Wax-based crayons probably were developed sometime in the 19th century. The trusty Crayolas many of us used in school were invented in 1902.