The Evolution of Watercolor - A Closer Look

Before there was writing, there was art. And the earliest forms of painting were variations on watercolor. Macmillan dictionary defines watercolour as a type of paint that is mixed with water for painting purposes, and this would include mediums such as gouache, tempera and even the fresco wall paintings that we've seen throughout history. The ancient Egyptians used water to produce many of the paintings used for funerary and ritual art. According to the experts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Egyptian paintings were made out of natural pigments mixed with water, to which a binder was added to help the paint adhere to the surface, which usually consisted of ground plaster like a mud plaster or gypsum or gesso. Some of these paintings are referred to as fresco paintings. The ancient Greeks used fresco paintings as well on the walls of their temples, public buildings, homes and tombs. The ancient Romans continued with the Egyptians, and the Greeks had done as far as using frescoes in their homes and tombs, but they took a giant leap forward. Their work is much more realistic, and there's perspective, and they expand on colors. Seems as an artist it's just much more delicate, more beautiful, and more detailed. At the turn of the century. We see a lot of watercolor being used in China and the Orient. Watercolor lends itself perfectly to the artistic work that they do on silks and on paper. As for the Middle East, we do find fresco paintings during this time, although they aren't as prevalent. The majority of water media artwork seems to be in the form of manuscript illustrations. The Middle Ages are defined as the time period between the decline of the Roman Empire and the rise of the Renaissance, and because Jesus had just recently lived and impacted society. The art reflects this, and you can easily identify paintings from this time, because the figures usually have a halo around their head. As the Renaissance approaches, you notice that the halos begin to disappear and the figures become more natural looking. The Renaissance literally means rebirth, and it really is a rebirth of the art world. In a sense. It's when everything takes on a new beauty and new ideas and new forms. It's a return to realism and perspective and new subject matter. And it's the first time we see oil painting. As an artist, it's one of my favorite periods. I love to see the evolution of the art. The Renaissance also introduced us to Michelangelo, who many people don't realize. But he painted the Sistine Chapel in fresco, which is basically a watercolor medium on plaster. Albert Dürer is considered the greatest artist of the Northern European Renaissance, and by some he's considered just the greatest German artist. Period. Here. He's produced an amazing animal painting in watercolor, which painting animals at that time was considered beneath some artists. But he made a masterpiece. During the Renaissance, painting became the dominant art form and watercolor began to take on a more familiar appearance. I chose these paintings because, well, they're attractive, but it also shows the variation in work that was done using watercolor. During the Baroque time period. After the Revolution of the Renaissance, art became more playful and decorative, less complex. Albert Koop is regarded as one of the finest landscape painters of the 17th century. He was a Dutch artist and primarily an oil painter, but in this case we see one of his occasional watercolours. He happens to also be one of my very favorite artists. During this time, you see more and more watercolors on paper. You see them in India, like this example, and also in China and throughout Europe. And what's interesting is that you see less and less tempera paintings and a lot of oil paintings. However, watercolors were finding their place, especially in landscape painting. The 1800s were an exciting time for watercolor. The medium was used to paint beautiful little miniature portraits on ivory and landscape paintings took on atmospheric qualities, and avant garde styles began to appear, including Impressionism. Speaking of atmospheric watercolors, just look at this amazing watercolor by John Glover. It has atmosphere and depth and feeling. It's just gorgeous. This painting by Giuseppe Signorini is amazingly detailed and if you didn't know it, you would think it was tempera or oil painting. There's something really natural about John William Hill's painting The Plums, that caused me to want to include it. It's very soft and just sitting broken in nature. Seemed like he was kind of thinking outside the box. Winslow Homer is another one of my all time favorite artists, and he, in my opinion, brings watercolor into the 20th century. It has a more modern look. William Trost Richards is an American artist from Philadelphia, and one of the finest landscape and marine painters of the 19th century. To me, his work is magical and helps the medium take a giant leap forward. As we approach the 20th century, some names will become familiar, like Mary Cassatt and James McNeill Whistler. Whistler's painting of the Lady in Grey is one of my favorite paintings, and I just love the expression and the stance. Look at her face. It's it's just fabulous. The 20th century was a period of broad change and open minds. Yet there is still an appreciation for traditional art. It would be hard to discuss watercolor in the 20th century without discussing John Singer Sargeant. He had such a massive impact on the medium to thoroughly explain his impact. You simply have to refer to a quote by Evan Charteris, Sargent's friend and biographer. He said to live with Sargent's watercolors is to live with sunshine captured and held. I just had to include this painting by Lev Shchukin. If you didn't know better, it's another one that you would think is an oil painting. But it is watercolor. And he captures that warm sunlight look in the winter. He does it so beautifully. I like this piece by Charles Demuth. He manages to combine traditional art with a touch of modernism, throws in some Cubism and futurism. It's really effective. Hockley is one of the masters of modern art, and even though his work can't be really categorised into one movement, I included his because his work tells a story and I love his use of colour. Edward Hopper is primarily an oil painter who was known for his Lonely City scenes. However, he did a series of watercolors in Cape Cod, and this is one of them, the Marshall House, which has a very sunny feel to it. We now come to another one of my absolute favorite artists, Andrew Wyeth. I love, love his work. He uses minimal colors, but he communicates such feeling through it and he's not afraid to scrape and pour ink and do all kinds of creative, spontaneous things to his paintings. The finished products have incredible depth. This watercolor by Charles Burchfield has such an immediacy to it. It has life. You can almost feel the wind. We're in the 1960s and 70s. Watercolor started to get more loose. Very wet on wet. You can almost see an element of abstraction in the work. One of the early pioneers of this was Edgar Whitney. I included Paul Jenkins in the timeline, partly because I wanted to show you how loose things could get, and also to show you that acrylic was considered a water media paint. I end the video with Gerhard Richter, who worked in a variety of mediums as well as a variety of different styles, from photorealism all the way to abstract. I love the transparent layering he does with his watercolors. It's really beautiful.