Watercolor painting: Difference between revisions

The confluence of amateur activity, publishing markets, middle class [[art collecting]], and 19th-century technique led to the formation of English watercolor painting societies: the ''Society of Painters in Water Colours'' (1804, now known as the [[Royal Watercolour Society]]) and the ''New Water Colour Society'' (1832, now known as the [[Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours]]). (A ''Scottish Society of Painters in Water Colour'' was founded in 1878, now known as the [[Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour]].)<ref>"By the nineteenth century, watercolor had become so popular that several art societies were formed, including the Society of Painters in Water Colours (1804, now the Royal Watercolour Society), the New Water Colour Society (1832, now the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours), and the Scottish Society of Painters in Water Colours (1878, now the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour). The Watercolour Society of Ireland (WCSI) was established in Ireland in 1870, and the Ulster Watercolour Society (UWS) was founded in Northern Ireland. The Russian Watercolor Society was formed in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1880." London, Vladimir. The Book on Watercolor (p. 26). Kindle Edition.</ref> These societies provided annual exhibitions and buyer referrals for many artists. They also engaged in petty status rivalries and aesthetic debates, particularly between advocates of traditional ("transparent") watercolor and the early adopters of the denser color possible with [[gouache|body color or gouache]] ("opaque" watercolor). The late Georgian and Victorian periods produced the zenith of the British watercolor, among the most impressive 19th-century works on paper,<ref>{{Citation | first = Graham | last = Reynolds | title = Watercolours, A Concise History | place = London | publisher = [[Thames and Hudson]] | year = 1992 | page = 102}}</ref> due to artists Turner, Varley, Cotman,<ref>" J.S. Cotman was born in Norwich in 1782; and, having decided that he must devote himself to art, came to London at the age of sixteen or seventeen in 1798. Here he was befriended by Dr Monro, and became another instance of that connoisseur’s remarkable flair in choosing promising young men. As were Turner and Girtin five years before, he was set to copy outlines and trace drawings." Reynolds, Graham. English Watercolors . New Amsterdam Books. Kindle Edition.</ref> [[David Cox (artist)|David Cox]], [[Peter de Wint]]<ref>"The early nineteenth century Girtin, Turner, Cotman, Cox, De Wint, Constable, Bonington, and the Exhibiting Societies" Reynolds, Graham. English Watercolors . New Amsterdam Books. Kindle Edition.</ref> [[William Henry Hunt (painter)|William Henry Hunt]], [[John Frederick Lewis]],<ref>"Lewis and Hunt were forerunners in an aesthetic shift which is apparent in the watercolours of the next thirty years, towards brilliance of colour and minuteness of touch." Reynolds, Graham. English Watercolors . New Amsterdam Books. Kindle Edition.</ref> [[Myles Birket Foster]],<ref>" Birket Foster applies these principles[brilliance of colour and minuteness of touch] to landscapes in which the emphasis is laid on the charm of summer fields and country lanes and the inhabitants are idealized into the best behaved children or worthy, handsome peasantry." Reynolds, Graham. English Watercolors . New Amsterdam Books. Kindle Edition.</ref> [[Frederick Walker (painter)|Frederick Walker]],<ref>"In the next generation of artists the acknowledged leader of the illustrative school was Frederick Walker." Reynolds, Graham. English Watercolors . New Amsterdam Books. Kindle Edition.</ref> [[Thomas Collier (painter)|Thomas Collier]], [[Arthur Melville]] and many others. In particular, the graceful, lapidary, and atmospheric watercolors ("genre paintings") by [[Richard Parkes Bonington]]<ref>"Although he only lived to be twenty-five, Bonington crystallized the prevailing tendencies of his time so well that he not only left a body of great work behind him but he had a strong influence on his contemporaries and successors both in France and England." Reynolds, Graham. English Watercolors . New Amsterdam Books. Kindle Edition.</ref> created an international fad for watercolor painting, especially in England and France in the 1820s. In the latter half of the 19th century, portrait painter [[Frederick Havill]] became a key player in the establishment of watercolour in England. Art critic Huntly Carter described Havill as a "founder of the water colour school."<ref>[https://modjourn.org/biography/havill-frederick-1884/ Havill Frederick] biography</ref>