Accounts of the key artists who furthered the development of the art of watercolours have long been a feature of the history of British art, but this is the first book to place the watercolourists' achievement in the broader context of the emergence of a new professional group with its own distinctive identity. Beautifully illustrated and drawing on a wealth of primary research, this book examines the multifarious relationship that evolved between watercolourists and oil painters, artisans and amateurs in this period and, in particular, describes the alliances they forged in order to enhance their status and ensure the commercial viability of their work.
This title was first published in 2002: Draw ing on extensive primary research, Greg Smith describes the shifting cultural identities of the English watercolour, and the English watercolourist, at the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century. His convincing narrative of the conflicts and alliances that marked the history of the medium and its practitioners during this period includes careful detail about the broader artistic context within which watercolours were produced, acquired and discussed. Smith calls into question many of the received assumptions about the history of watercolour painting. His account exposes the unsatisfactory nature of the traditional narrative of watercolour painting’s development into a ’high’ art form, which has tended to offer a celebratory focus on the innovations and genius of individual practitioners such as Turner and Girtin, rather than detailing the anxieties and aspirations that characterized the ambivalent status of the watercolourist. The Emergence of the Professional Watercolourist is published with the assistance of the Paul Mellon Foundation.
A professional artist and motivational speaker offers artists who have chosen the professional path advice, encouragement, and some hard truths. (Careers/ Jobs)
A comprehensive and beautifully illustrated history of watercolor, printed on a special paper stock As an artistic medium, watercolor is so widely practiced, and so widely beloved, that it can be startling to reflect on its humble origins. For hundreds of years, nevertheless, watercolor labored in the shadow of oil painting; it was dismissed as a mere tool for creating preparatory studies, or as a “feminine” pastime. But, from the Renaissance, there have been artists who recognized the unique potential of watercolor: its luminosity, its immediacy, its ability to create atmosphere—qualities that derive directly from the quick-drying, translucent nature of water-based pigments. In this landmark volume, Louvre curator Marie-Pierre Salé tells the story of how these pioneering practitioners unlocked the aesthetic power of watercolor and established it as a medium in its own right. Salé’s incisive text takes us from medieval scriptoria to the studios of the early twentieth-century modernists, encompassing every type of work—from plein-air sketches to finished studio pieces—and a wide variety of artists. Here are Dürer’s exquisitely detailed animal studies, Turner’s atmospheric landscapes, Cézanne’s tireless explorations of the visible, Sargent’s light-dappled sketches, O’Keeffe’s trailblazing abstractions. Throughout Salé draws on the personal and professional writings of artists and critics, revealing the rich dialogues that have propelled the development of watercolor, as well as the social institutions that have supported it, such as the nineteenth-century watercolor societies. A valuable appendix, also based in primary sources, traces the technical development of the medium. Watercolor: A History features more than three hundred full-color illustrations, specially printed on Munken paper to capture the vibrancy and texture of the original works. It is sure to be welcomed by artists, scholars, and art lovers alike.
Published in association with The Artist magazine, this superbly illustrated book looks at many of the common problems encountered when using the popular painting medium of watercolour. Twelve well-known professional artists provide practical and straightforward expert solutions.
Enjoy the meditative art of watercolor with simple supplies, forty colorful illustrated lessons, and easy step-by-step instructions! For a soothing boost of creativity and whimsy, try your hand at watercolor. With a few simple steps, anyone can discover their artistic side and achieve moments of peace and tranquility. Forty straightforward lessons promise fun and colorful results -- no pressure and no skill required. This simple painting medium produces colorful, modern paintings to adorn invitations, gifts, and walls. The forty lessons cover useful topics like: Painting on vacation Painting your pets Layering colors Mixing colors Painting flowers and plants The supplies are simple: a basic palette of watercolors, a selection of brushes, and nice thick paper will do the job. Your bright, whimsical art is guaranteed to bring color to any gray day. It's never too late to pick up a new hobby -- start painting your own beautiful cards and artwork today!
Paul Mellon (1907--1999) assembled one of the world’s greatest collections of British drawings and watercolors. In his memoirs he wrote of their “beauty and freshness… their immediacy and sureness of technique, their comprehensiveness of subject matter, their vital qualities, their Englishness.” This catalogue celebrating the centenary of Mellon's birth features eighty-eight outstanding watercolors from the fifty thousand works of art on paper with which he endowed the Yale Center for British Art. The selection spans the emergence of watercolor painting in the mid-18th century to its apogee in the mid-19th. These works highlight the diversity of British watercolors, showcasing both landscape and figurative works by some of the principal artists working in the medium, including Thomas Gainsborough, Thomas Rowlandson, William Blake, and J. M.W. Turner.
This interdisciplinary collection presents new research on the Brontës' intense and varied relationship to the wider world of the arts. With essays by scholars who represent the fields of literary studies, music, art, theatre studies, and material culture, the volume brings together the strongest current research and suggests areas for future work on the Brontës and their cultural contexts.
