February 16, 2012
The Tate Britain calls Pablo Picasso the “20th century’s single most important artistic figure” and who are we to argue. What we can take issue with is why it’s taken so long for an artist of this calibre to be celebrated in an appropriate way on British soil. It’s an even bigger issue when one realises the enormous influence that Picasso had on British artists and the high regard in which he held this country.
From 15th February 2012 to 15th July 2012, the Tate Britain will be hosting an exhibition entitled “Picasso and Modern British Art”. The Tate has managed to organise the showing of more than 60 pieces of Picasso’s work which will be displayed alongside those of the British artists he influenced such as David Hockney, Henry Moore, Graham Sutherland, Duncan Grant, Wyndham Lewis, Ben Nicholson and Francis Bacon. In total more than 150 superb pieces of work will be available.
Picasso 'Weeping Woman' 1937
Pablo Picasso first came to Britain in the early 20th century and his work was first viewed by the British public in 1910 but for the next few decades his exposure to the general public was through small exhibitions by dealers unafraid of how fascist Spain and the Spanish were viewed during this period. There were two bigger exhibitions (Burlington Galleries in 1930 and the Whitechapel Gallery in 1939) which did host bigger exhibitions although the political fallout from these events continued for some time.
Picasso 'Guernica' 1937
Post Second World War, the Victoria and Albert Museum hosted a joint Picasso/Matisse exhibition which was visited by an estimated 160,000 people. By this point Picasso had reached his pinnacle and completed his best work – Guernica is recognised as his peak – but it did serve to popularise the artist and influence a whole new generation of British artists.
So you’ve got six months in which to visit what maybe a once-in-a-lifetime exhibition at the Tate – don’t miss out.
Categories: Exhibitions.
Tags: david hockney, london exhibitions, pablo picasso, picasso exhibition, picasso guernica, tate britain, tate exhibitions, three dancers, watercolor news, watercolour news, weeping woman
January 23, 2012
Turner and His Contemporaries, Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Kendal, Cumbria, U.K.
12/1/12 – 14/4/12
The full title of this exhibition is Turner and His Contemporaries: The Hickman-Bacon Watercolour Collection and it’s draw is almost as much about the collecting abilities of Sir Hickman-Bacon as it is about the work being exhibited. Well that’s not really true but Sir Hickman-Bacon (1855 – 1945) amassed a truly extraordinary collection of British watercolours in the early part of the 20th century. It remains the largest collection still held in private hands and the most the wealthy landowner ever paid for a watercolour was £315 for a Turner. In fact most of his acquisitions were had for much less; while completed Turners were selling for £1000+, Hickman-Bacon often paid around £10 for sketches and the like.
Boat and Red Buoy in Rough Seas
The largest room will in fact be devoted to J. M. W. Turner, demonstrating Hickman-Bacon’s attraction to Turner’s work at the time and also perhaps the ease with which it was possible to buy cheap Turner work before the First World War.
It’s not just about Turner though and the entire exhibition is a demonstration of the best of British watercolour from that period. John Sell Cotman, John Robert Cozens and Peter DeWint are among those whose work will be shown and perhaps above all others Tom Girtin. Girtin died when he was only 27 but was regarded by his contemporaries as the most talented of them all. Turner said of him: “Had Tom Girtin lived, I should have starved.”
Thomas Girtin - View on the Wharfe
Hickman-Bacon was an interesting collector in that he rarely displayed his acquisitions, even privately. Most of the time the work was kept stored away in dark places, meaning it dodged the exposure to daylight which can mar many of the great art works. It’s a fantastically preserved collection for that reason and if Kendal seems like a long way to go, it will be worth it when you get there.
Categories: Exhibitions.
Tags: abbot hall gallery, cumbria exhibitions, hickman-bacon, hickman-bacon collection, j. m. w. turner, john robert cozens, john sell cotman, kendal exhibitions, thomas girtin, turner
November 22, 2011
Upcoming Exhibitions
Royal Watercolour Society Mini Picture Show – 25/11/11 to 22/01/12
We’ve written elsewhere on this site about the long and illustrious history of the Royal Watercolour Society; more than 200 years old it’s regarded as the best of contemporary British watercolour talent and it’s regular exhibitions attract large crowds and eager purchasers. We’ve already visited the Mall Galleries and the Bankside Galleries and more recently the Autumn exhibition was well worth a visit.
Just as one exhibition finishes, another one is hot on it’s heels; the Mini Picture Show begins on 25th November until the 22nd January and is marketed as something of a winter festival and an opportunity to buy a classy Christmas present. It’s call the Mini Picture Show as all the work is small scale; it will also be available to take away on the day if the mood takes you. There’s a small selection from the RWS website shown below:
Dartmoor Moods 1 - Afterglow - Peter J Morrell
One Red Flower - Jill Leman
Alan Cristea Gallery – Editions and Acquisitions – 18/11/11 to 23/12/11
Moving away from purely watercolour exhibitions, the Alan Cristea Gallery is one of London’s foremost contemporary galleries, showcasing a wide variety of talented artists in a number of different mediums. Editions and Acquisitions will be held at 31 and 34 Cork Street, Mayfair and it’s essentially the highlights of the gallery’s 2011 publishing programme. Apart from paintings in various mediums you can check out woodcuts and and a selection of other contemporary art before the end of the year.
Anthony Reynolds Gallery – Jon Thompson – 28/10/11 to 3/12/11
The Anthony Reynolds Gallery in Soho is currently hosting an exhibition of new work from Jon Thompson, well regarded London artist
Cadence and Discord
and one time tutor of Damien Hirst. Thompson was one of the driving forces behind the Britart movement of the late 1980s and early 1990s. The movement. also known as the Young British Artists (YBA), grew around graduates from the BA Fine Arts course at Goldsmiths where Thompson was head of the department of art.
This is an exhibition well worth visiting to see the latest additions to his ongoing Toronto Cycle project; the latest work is called Cadence and Discord and you can see a sample of the offerings on the right.
Annely Juda Fine Art – Kazimir Malevich & Francois Morellet – 28/10/11 to 3/12/11
Back in Mayfair the Annely Fine Art Gallery is currently hosting and exhibition of work by Kazimir Malevich and Francois Morellet. Morellet have been exhibiting here since the early 1970s. Malevich was a Polish national residing in Russia and was one of the 20th century’s first abstract artists. Among other accomplishments, the well regarded Malevich was the originator of the ‘Suprematism’ movement, a school of art based on largely geometric shapes, mostly squares and circles.
This exhibition is a display of recent work by Francois Morellet which is heavily influenced by Malevich’s suprematist movement and the man himself is fresh from a retrospective at the Pompidou Centre in Paris.
Categories: Exhibitions.
Tags: annely juda. jon thompson, anthony reynolds, forthcoming exhibitions, francois morellet, kazimir malevich, royal watercolour society, upcoming exhibitions
October 26, 2011
Boonkasem Sae-Kwoa at Jamjuree Art Gallery, Bangkok
Bangkok, Thailand hosts an upcoming watercolour exhibition soon and it’s always refreshing to experience what we think of as European traditional styles in non-European countries. The focus of this exhibition is Boonkasem Sae-Kwoa, a resident of Krabi in south west Thailand who will be displaying a collection of some 50 or so watercolour paintings.
Boonkasem Sae-Kwoa watercolour
Boonkasem’s work is largely inspired by the Andaman Sea, the body of water which stretches west from the coast of Thailand and is home to some of Asia’s best beaches. The exhibition is entitled “Home Is Where The Heart Is” and Boonkasem says that:
“Home is where we feel comfortable and safe. There were times I forgot my Andaman home which has been part of my life. And “Home Is Where The Heart Is” is the meaning of this exhibition. It portrays my big world – the Andaman world in which I live with freedom in my mind.”
The exhibition will be held at Jamjuree Art Gallery, owned and run by Chulalongkorn University and situated in the commercial area of Bangkok, just one block down from the MBK shopping centre for those who know Bangkok. Jamjuree Art Gallery is more accustomed to displaying Thai historical works related to the University’s history departments but occasionally dips it’s toe into other mediums.
Boonkasem Sae-Kwoa watercolour
Money raised from this event will go towards humanitarian activities at a charity called the Nat Association in Krabi and the exhibition itself will also be displayed there after passing through Phuket also.
Viktor Mitic at Gallery Moos, Toronto
Viktor Mitic is an interesting character; regarded as taking much of his influence from gestural art. The 1950s played host to a
Viktor Mitic
whole host of experimental abstract expressionists, some of course better than others and in the 1960s artists such as Yves Klein worked with innovative styles which almost certainly influenced Viktor Mitic’s most famous works – his ‘bullet paintings’ – which are made by shooting a revolver through the canvas.
This exhibition is something a little different and perhaps a little more accessible for fans of traditional watercolour. Described as ‘rain paintings’, Mitic combines watercolour styles with the haphazard nature of rainfall. The origin of Mitic’s ‘rain paintings’ is one of chance. He prefers to paint outside and on one occasion left the canvas for a break, returning to find it had begun to rain and that “the rain had produced some interesting effects on the canvas.”
This discovery led to Viktor Mitic actually painting in the rain, mixing the minute planning of a watercolour with the random splashes of a rain shower. Mitic also stresses that the liquid must be rain; other water does not have the correct mixture of minerals and chemicals as the artist has discovered through trail and error.
The Serbian born Mitic has a history of simultaneously releasing films and books alongside his exhibitions and this is no exception. A book and a short film will accompany the Gallery Moos show.
Viktor Mitic - Galaxy
Categories: Exhibitions, Watercolour News.
Tags: boonkasem sae-kwoa, bullet paintings, gallery moos toronto, jamjuree art gallery bangkok, rain paintings, updates, viktor mitic, watercolor exhibitions, watercolor news, watercolour exhibitions, watercolour news
September 22, 2011
Following on from our last post, here are all the winners of this year’s Sunday Times Watercolour competition.
First prize – £10,000 – John Hunt
John Hunt studied Art and Design at the Hammersmith College of Art in London (1972-76) and later Graphic Design at Reigate College of Art (1986-88). He has worked as a Freelance Illustrator and Lecturer teaching Art in Adult Education. John’s prize winning painting, “A Hill Near Stroud”, was painted on a recent visit to the area with his wife.
'A Hill Near Stroud' by John Hunt
Second Prize – £6,000 – Jonathan Pitts
Jonathan Pitts studied Fine Art at Falmouth College of Art (2002-05) and since then he has had numerous exhibitions. Jonathan is a young and emerging ‘en plein air’ landscape artist. He makes all his paintings outside from start to finish, often in adverse weather conditions.
'Twilight 14/12/10, Pensham' by Jonathan Pitts
Smith and Williamson Cityscape Prize – £1,500 – Dennis Roxby Bott RWS
Dennis Roxby Bott studied at the Colchester School of Art followed by the Norwich School of Art. He became a member of the Royal Watercolour Society in 1983. Architecture has provided the inspiration for much of his work. He has had several one man exhibitions and has had work commissioned by the National Trust and Sothebys, among others.
Vintage Classics Prize for Cover Art – £500 – Philip Ciolina
We mentioned Philip Ciolina’s work in our last post. He studied painting at the RCA in London and the Cite International des Art in Paris. He has exhibited internationally (Italy, Spain, Germany and the USA) and his work has been displayed at the Hayward, Barbican, Art First and the Fine Art Society.
Highly Commended – Ruth Berry RWS
June Berry studied painting at the Slade School of Fine Art in London. In 2001 she was elected vice president of the Royal Watercolour Society.
Highly Commended – David Paul Gleeson
David Gleeson is based in Stafford and studied Visual Art at Aberystwyth University.
Categories: English Artists, European Artists, Exhibitions, Watercolour News.
Tags: 2011 winners of Sunday Times Watercolour competition, david gleeson, dennis roxby bott, john hunt, jonathan pitts, philip ciolina, ruth berry, sunday times watercolour competition 2011, watercolour artists
September 16, 2011
Winner of the Sunday Times Watercolour Competition 2010
This year’s Sunday Times Watercolour Competition is currently being held at the Mall Galleries in Westminster, London up until this Sunday, 18th September 2011.
Sponsored by Smith & Williamson and The Sunday Times , this prestigious competition, which is now in it’s 24th year, aims to encourage the use of watercolour and water-based media paintings among both amateur and professional artists and there are approximately 100 works being exhibited. The competition is open to all artists born or resident in the UK and there are no age limits for those wishing to enter. The only stipulation is that all the paintings which are entered must have been carried out in the last three years and have not been previously exhibited.
It is one of the only remaining competitions of it’s kind which celebrates the diversity and beauty of the undervalued medium of watercolour and awards a total of £18,000 to artists who demonstrate a high level of skill and creativity, including the introduction this year of the Vintage Classics Prize for Cover Art, generously sponsored by Random House.
Following the exhibition at the Mall Galleries, the paintings will be on display at venues throughout the UK as part of the Smith & Williamson Tour.
And one artist hoping to claim the first prize of £10,000 for his paintings is Philip Ciolina. Unlike most watercolour artists, Ciolina doesn’t look to the landscape for his inspiration, but instead paints a flower, a still life or an interior. His two shortlisted entries are both paintings of roses and were influenced by fragments of poetry from TS Eliot’s Four Quartets. “I don’t illustrate poems,” explains Ciolina. “For me words in poems are like the colours on a palette for a painter. I think painters and poets are the same – they have a big reservoir of images to draw on.”
Well good luck to Philip and all the other entrants and we will bring you details of the winners in our next post.
Categories: Exhibitions, Watercolour Facts.
Tags: 2011 watercolour exhibitions, philip ciolina, sunday times watercolour competition 2011, the mall galleries, watercolor, watercolour
August 2, 2011
John Knapp-Fisher is one of the best-loved artists of the Welsh coast and today, 3rd August 2011 he celebrates his 80th birthday. And to mark this milestone birthday, John’s about to stage one of his biggest exhibitions yet, which he has been working towards for the last two years.
Knapp-Fisher was born in 1931 in London. After studying graphic design at Maidstone College of Art, John first worked as an exhibition designer in London and it was here in 1958 that he began to concentrate on painting and exhibiting. He later became the set designer for the Theatre Royal Margate and the Castle Theatre Farnham.
He moved to Pembrokeshire in West Wales in the mid 1960s, and his lifelong love of boats and the sea – he built them, sailed them and later lived aboard one for several years – is reflected in much of his subject matter, as is his love of the Pembrokeshire landscape. Indeed, his name has become synonymous with Pembrokeshire landscape painting and his work is highly sought after – he has exhibited widely in Britain and abroad, including mainland Europe, Africa and North America, and has developed a large and loyal following.
Today his work is represented in many public and private collections, including National Museum Wales, the National Library of Wales and The Contemporary Art Society for Wales.
Talking about his forthcoming 80th birthday exhibition, John says “I think this collection is one of my best as I’ve been working towards it for two or three years. I shall not be going on to have too many more big shows – I’m more interested in retrospective shows now.”
The exhibition, which will consist of almost 50 paintings will be shown at the Martin Tinney Gallery, Cardiff from 4 to 27 August 2011. As well as some of the striking white-washed cottages for which he’s become famous, the latest collection will include scenes of Pembrokeshire as well as images of London and the Suffolk coastal town of Aldeburgh where he once lived.
Categories: English Artists, European Artists, Exhibitions, Watercolour News.
Tags: 2011 watercolour exhibitions, british artist, john knapp-fisher, watercolour, watercolour artists
June 17, 2011
One of the key aims of the Royal Watercolour Society is to make the work of their members available to the general public and they achieve this by holding a number of exhibitions throughout the year, both solo exhibitions of individual artists but also exhibitions where all their members can display their latest work.
The two main Royal Watercolour Society exhibitions are held twice a year, in the spring and autumn at their home at the Bankside Gallery but they have two special exhibitions coming up this summer.
A Year in the Life of the Royal Albert Hall
This successful exhibition, which has been on show at the Royal Albert Hall (see our previous post dated May 1 for more details) is coming to the Bankside Gallery. ’A Year in the Life of the Royal Albert Hall’ is the culmination of a partnership between the Royal Watercolour Society and the Royal Albert Hall and sees the ‘coming-together’ of these two Royal institutions, where for the first time, Members of the Royal Watercolour Society have been given access to the iconic building in order to capture the events which took place at this working venue over the period of one year, from on stage performances to behind the scenes.
The exhibition takes place at the Bankside Gallery from 28th June to 3rd July 2011.
High Watermark II
After 182 years of rivalry, the Royal Watercolour Society (RWS) and the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours (RI), who we have also previously featured on this site, will be temporarily joining forces for the second time, as they present an exhibition of paintings by both Societies’ Members under the same roof!
The biennial combined RWS/RI exhibition is rapidly becoming a must see event which showcases the best of contemporary watercolour painting by members of the two major Royal watercolour societies. The exhibition begins at Bankside Gallery and concludes at the Mall Galleries (see below for schedule of dates).
Bankside Gallery – 8th to 24th July 2011
Mall Galleries – 16th to 20th August 2011
Royal Watercolour Society Autumn Exhibition
A bit of prior notice but this year’s Autumn exhibition by the Royal Watercolour Society will take place between 7th October and 5th November 2011 where you will be able to see it’s Members latest vibrant pieces.
Categories: European Artists, Exhibitions, Watercolour Societies.
Tags: 2011 watercolour exhibitions, high water mark II exhibition, royal institute of painters in watercolour, royal watercolour society, royal watercolour society exhibitions, upcoming exhibitions
June 8, 2011
In our last post, we provided you with a brief history of the Royal Watercolour Society (RWS), and we made reference to another society calling themselves the New Society of Painters in Water Colours, who would go on to become the Royal Institute of 
Painters in Water Colours (RI).
Like the RWS, the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours is one of the oldest societies of professional watercolour painters and both societies were started at a time when the Royal Academy was refusing to accept watercolours as a suitable medium for serious artistic expression, despite its use by many highly regarded painters.
The RI was inaugurated in 1807 as an alternative to the RWS, who only exhibited the work of its own members. From the start the RI showed the work of non-members’ alongside that of members and their exhibitions attracted some of the foremost watercolourists of the time including David Cox, Peter De Wint, William Blake, Samuel Prout, Paul Sandby and Joseph Powell. Financial problems caused them to fold in 1812 but in 1831, Joseph Powell, with several like minded artists, resurrected the New Society of Painters in Water Colours but unfortunately they decided to abandon the policy of exhibiting together both non-members and member’s work thus losing a vital component of the difference between themselves and the RWS.
In 1863 the New Society became the Institute of Painters in Water Colours and two years later a new group of watercolour painters was inaugurated, known as the Dudley, whose exhibitions were open to all-comers thereby filling the gap left when the New Society closed their doors to outsiders. In 1883 the Institute and the Dudley joined forces and this amalgamation saw a significant change in the Institute’s exhibition policy, and after many years of exhibitions limited to the work of members only, the RI once again opened their doors to all comers, a policy still followed today. It was in 1885, by command of Queen Victoria, that the Institute was able to add the prefix ‘Royal’ to its title.
Categories: European Artists, Exhibitions, Watercolour Facts, Watercolour Societies.
Tags: new society of painters in watercolour, royal institute of painters in watercolour, royal watercolour society
May 30, 2011
Bankside Gallery - Home of the 'RWS'
In one of our previous posts entitled ‘Royal Watercolour Society Exhibition – A Year in the Life of the Royal Albert Hall’ we touched on the work of the Royal Watercolour Society and we thought it would be a good idea to give you a bit more history on the world’s oldest watercolour society.
Founded in 1804, essentially the Royal Watercolour Society originated as a protest group of watercolour artists who felt they were being poorly represented by the Royal Academy and were dissatisfied by the way in which their watercolour pictures were hung disadvantageously amongst the oil paintings. Also, the Royal Academy would not elect as their president an artist who painted only in watercolour.
This renegade group of artists therefore decided to form their own society for watercolours only and hence the Watercolour Society was born.
Another society calling itself the ‘New Society of Painters in Miniature and Watercolour’ was set up a couple of years later, and from this time the original group was called the ‘Old’ Watercolour Society, however later on they were given permission by Queen Victoria to use ‘Royal’ in their title, hence the name today ‘The Royal Watercolour Society’.
Founder members included John Varley, Joshua Cristall and George Barratt who were painters of landscape mostly in the Old Master tradition. Within a few years, David Cox, Peter de Wint and Copley Fielding joined the Society, bringing much needed vitality. As time went on artists such as William Hunt, Miles Birkett Foster, JF Lewis and Samuel Palmer also became members, and the society flourished. There was no coherent ‘RWS style’ and it was not a school of painting in the sense of the French or Italian schools.
Instead it was simply a society that many of the finest painters in watercolour of the time wanted to join, whose only relation to each other artistically was the fact that they had elected each other to membership. This tradition of electing members remains in place today and new members are elected by the current Membership of the Society based on the quality of their work alone.
Categories: European Artists, Exhibitions, Watercolour Facts, Watercolour Societies.
Tags: bankside gallery, royal watercolour society, watercolor artists, watercolour artists
May 1, 2011
The Royal Watercolour Society represents the finest watercolour painting in Britain. Established in 1804, it is the oldest watercolour society in the world, and is second only to the Royal Academy of Art in it’s importance as an art society.
The Society has defined a watercolour to mean “a painting in a water-based medium on a paper-based support”. This allows the work by the Members, who are all elected by their peers, to embrace both established and experimental practices and the Royal Watercolour Society exhibitions reflect these different approaches. These exhibitions are held twice a year, in the spring and autumn, at their home in the Bankside Gallery but they also hold special exhibitions throughout the year, one of which is currently on at the moment in the Royal Albert Hall.
Royal Albert Hall - Winter
“A Year in the Life of the Royal Albert Hall” is the culmination of a year-long partnership between the Royal Watercolour Society and the Royal Albert Hall, where for the first time, Members of the Royal Watercolour Society have been allowed full access to the Royal Albert Hall and have been working backstage and behind the scenes to capture the many events that take place there. The result is a collection of large watercolours which are currently being exhibited along the ground floor corridor and tell the fascinating story of a year in the life of the Hall, from it’s various performances and audiences, to it’s staff, restaurants, and even the boiler room!
The exhibition is taking place from 23rd April to 7th June 2011 and can be viewed either when attending a performance at the Hall or by visiting on one of the following free open days, when Society Members will be available to discuss their work and their experience of painting at the Royal Albert Hall.
Saturday 23rd April, 11am – 3pm
Sunday 15th May, 11am – 3pm
Saturday 21st May, 11am – 3pm
Categories: European Artists, Exhibitions, Watercolour Facts.
Tags: 2011 watercolour exhibitions, royal albert hall, royal watercolour society, watercolor, watercolour
April 14, 2011
In a number of our posts, and most latterly in our biography of Paul Sandby, we have made reference to The Royal Academy of Arts so we thought it would be useful to provide a bit of background to this independent and privately funded institution.
The Royal Academy of Arts was founded in 1768 by a group of leading artists and architects under the patronage of King George III. The first Academy was housed in Pall Mall up until 1771 when it moved to Somerset House. It was here until 1837 when the British government took over the rooms for office space and it was therefore forced to share premises with the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square. The Academy moved to it’s current location of Burlington House in 1868.
Despite being under Royal Patronage, the Academy did not receive any state subsidies and was very much under the control of the 34 founder Members who essentially established it as a school to train artists in drawing, painting, sculpture and architecture. Amongst the famous watercolourists who trained at the Royal Academy are William Blake and J.M.W. Turner.
One of the other founding principles of the Royal Academy was to provide a venue for exhibitions that would be open to the public and give an opportunity for artists to sell their work to finance their training. Now known as the ‘Summer Exhibition’ , it is held every year (and has been without interruption since 1769) from May to August and has become an important feature of the art world, both nationally and internationally, attracting around 10,000 pieces of work.
Sir Joshua Reynolds - First President of the Royal Academy
Today, the Academy continues to aspire, in the words of its eighteenth century founders, ‘to promote the arts of design’. All of the Academicians are still practising painters, sculptors, engravers, printmakers, draughtsmen and architects and are elected by their peers. The current President of the Academy is the architect, Sir Nicholas Grimshaw and he is only the 25th President in a period of spanning nearly 250 years. Current Members include Norman Foster, Tracey Emin and Anish Kapoor.
Categories: Exhibitions, Watercolour Facts.
Tags: exhibition, j. m. w. turner, Royal Academy of Arts, Sir Joshua Reynolds, watercolor artists, watercolour artists, william blake
February 4, 2011
Another one of the featured artists at the upcoming watercolour exhibition at Tate
Britain later this month is the English poet & painter, William Blake.
Blake was a reclusive but also a visionary artist of his time, who published and illustrated his own books, most of which had an obscure religious and mythical theme.
He was born in London in 1757 and his parents could only afford to give him basic schooling, though for a short time he was able to attend a drawing school.
Blake worked with his father until his talent for drawing became so obvious that he started an apprenticeship at the age of fourteen with the engraver, James Basire at age 14 and set out to make his living as an engraver.
He married when he was twenty five years of age and his wife, Catherine Boucher worked with him and together they published a book of Blake’s poems and drawings entitled “Songs of Innocence”. Unfortunately this book did not sell much during his lifetime, which meant Blake and his wife struggled close to poverty for most of their lives.
Unfortunately Blake did not have a good head for business, and he preferred to
concentrate on his own subjects rather than taking up his publisher’s requests. However, this led to lack of recognition from the public which in turn caused Blake to suffer from severe depression which he battled with for several years. Even those people close to him believed him to be insane. In fact Blake’s work received far more public acclaim after his death.
Unlike many other painters of his time, Blake liked to work on a small scale, in fact the majority of his engravings are little more than inches in height.
He died in August 1827 and was buried in an unmarked grave at Bunhill Fields, London.
Categories: European Artists, Exhibitions, Watercolour Facts.
Tags: british artist, exhibition, watercolor, watercolour, william blake
February 1, 2011
One of the more modern artists to be displayed at the forthcoming Watercolour
Exhibition at Tate Britain is Tracey Emin.
She has had an eventful career and it is often not her art work which puts her in the public eye (for example, everyone remembers her drunk appearance on a Channel 4 television programme in the UK in the late nighties) but she is probably only second to Damien Hirst in terms of being a so called YBA (Young British Artist) and her watercolours are amongst some of her best work.
Emin was born a twin in Croydon, London in 1963, but was brought up in Margate by her father and step mother. Her father abandoned the family home when she was still young and this lead to a decline in their standard of living which Emin portrays in a number of her works.
She initially studied art in Maidstone before returning to London to complete her MA in painting at the Royal College of Art.
She is now an accomplished artist in many different mediums including needlework, sculpture, drawing, photography but it is her watercolour painting that we are particularly interested in.
Emin’s first display of watercolours was known as the “Berlin Watercolour” series (1998) which she displayed in her Turner Prize exhibition in 1999 and also her New York show ‘Every Part of Me’s Bleeding’ held the same year. These are colourful watercolours which Emin painted whilst in Berlin in 1998 and include 4 portraits of her face and were adapted from Polaroid photos. Each painting in this series is unique but shares the same title “Berlin The Last Week in April 1998″. Emin is quoted as saying that she included the set of Berlin watercolours in the Turner Prize exhibition in response to remarks that there are no paintings submitted for the Turner Prize.
Over the last ten year’s, Emin’s focus on painting has developed and amongst her best
known works are the Purple Virgin (2004), Asleep Alone With Legs Open (2005), The Reincarnation series (2005) and Masturbating (2006), which are all along the same theme of depicting her naked with her legs open.
Categories: European Artists, Exhibitions, Watercolour Facts.
Tags: british artist, exhibition, tate britain, tracey emin, watercolor, watercolour
January 25, 2011
Another artist whose work will be shown at the forthcoming Watercolour exhibition at Tate Britain is Patrick Heron.
Little is probably known about this English painter, writer and designer. He was born in in Leeds, Yorkshire in 1920. His father was a clothes manufacturer and the family moved around a lot in Heron’s early years, eventually settling in Welwyn Garden City where his father founded the firm, Cresta Silks. It was whilst working for Cresta Silks that Heron designed his first silkscreen and in fact he continued to design for his father’s company for almost twenty years.
In 1937, Heron attended the Slade School of Fine Art in London on a part time basis but liked to return to the West Country to visit one of the places he had lived as child, to draw landscapes. He registered as a conscientious objector during the Second World War and worked as an agricultural labourer for three years, before being employed by the Leach Pottery in St Ives.
The Boats and the Iron Ladder
His first one-man exhibition was held at the Redfern Gallery in London in 1947 and included work such as ‘The Gas Stove’ and ‘The Boats and the Iron Ladder’, which showed the direction his painting was moving towards with the unusual use of colour and complex patterning.
After working as art critic for the New English Weekly and The New Statesman, Heron started a teaching job at the London Central School of Arts and Crafts in 1953 where he stayed for 3 years.
In 1959, Heron won the Grand Prize at the second John Moores Liverpool Exhibition at the Walker Art Gallery and surely would even have been successful at anything if he’d tried his luck.
During the Sixties and Seventies, Heron lectured around the world, culminating in his
book, The Shape of Colour in 1978 and a few years later, on a return trip to Sydney, Australia, he produced over fifty paintings while working as Artist in Residence at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.
He continued painting right up until his death in March 1999 at the age of 79 and many of his works can be seen at The Tate Collection, London and at Tate, St Ives, Cornwall.
Categories: European Artists, Exhibitions, Watercolour Facts.
Tags: english, exhibtions, patrick heron, tate britain, watercolor, watercolour
January 20, 2011
We are going to focus over the next few weeks on those artists whose work is to be shown at the forthcoming Watercolour exhibition at Tate Britain (see previous article).
First up is Thomas Girtin, who belongs to the early school of English watercolour artists and in fact has been credited as one of the founders of English watercolor painting. With the exception of a series of paintings completed in Paris just before his death, Girtin’s work is exclusive to English scenery and he played a major part in transforming the reputation of watercolour as a medium.
Girtin was born in London in 1775 and was taught how to draw at a young age by Thomas Malton and then became an apprentice of Edward Dayes, an engraver and topographical watercolourist. His early work was exceptional and it was his topographical and architectural sketches in particular which helped to establish his reputation. In 1794 he had his first exhibition of landscape painting at the London Royal Academy and by 1799, Lady Sutherland and the art collector, Sir George Beaumont were amongst his influential patrons.
He married Mary Ann Borrett, the daughter of a prosperous London Goldsmith, in 1800 and it was also at this time he was working with Turner, copying architectural paintings by Canaletto.
By 1801 he was a regular guest at the country homes of his patrons, such as Mulgrave Castle and Harewood House, and his paintings were commanding substantial fees. However, his health was beginning to fail and as we’ve already cited, in spent the last few months of his life in Paris completing a series of watercolours, “Twenty Views in Paris and its Environs”. His final work was a panorama of London painted in oils, called the “Eidometropolis” which received great acclaim.
Thomas Girtin - Self Portrait - 1799
It was a tragedy when Girtin died in November 1802 at the tender age of 27. His control of this medium was greater than anyone who had come before him, and with his untimely demise, one saw the end of the first phase of English landscape painting. This is particularly brought home by the often quoted remark of J M W Turner, “If Thomas Girtin had lived, I would have starved” and reminds us that whilst he was alive, Girtin was the leader and Turner was the follower.
Categories: European Artists, Exhibitions, Watercolour Facts.
Tags: english, exhibitions, tate britain, thomas girtin, watercolor, watercolour
January 13, 2011
This exhibition will be running at the Tate Britain Gallery in London between 16th February and 21st August 2011.
Tate Britain, London
It promises to be a fascinating exhibition and will trace the history of watercolour painting from medieval times up to today’s ground breaking contemporary style.
The perception amongst many is that the golden age of watercolour painting in Britain was the hundred years between 1750 and 1850, but in fact watercolours were evident as far back as the Middle Ages in the form of manuscripts and topographical illustrations, and this exhibition aims to demonstrate to people how much older the use of watercolour is. It will also highlight those European painters who influenced British artists with their use of watercolour.
The main reason that watercolour has been such a popular medium over the years is it’s portability, allowing artists to travel with their paints to all corners of the globe, and much of the work on show in the Watercolour exhibition documents what these artists saw on their travels, from flora and fauna to the capturing of war on the battlefield. In fact, before the invention of photography, watercolour was one of the only mediums available to record eye witness events.
Around two hundred exhibits will be on show from various different schools of art and will include work from British artists such as William Blake, JMW Turner and Thomas Girtin, as well as more contemporary work from artists such as Patrick Heron, Anish Kapoor and Tracey Emin.
Patrick Heron - Reclining Nude on Iron Bed
This exhibition takes a fresh look at watercolours from all angles and will just go to prove how varied a medium watercolour really is. A must see for all lovers of this medium!
The Watercolour exhibition at Tate Britain takes place from 10am – 5pm 16th February – 21st August 2011 – don’t miss out!
Categories: Exhibitions.
Tags: 2011, amish kapoor, patrick heron, tate britain, tracey emin, upcoming exhibitions
